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BARNAS SEARS 

A CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR 
HIS MAKING AND WORK 



BY 



ALVAH HOVEY, D.D., LL.D. 

AUTHOR OF ''a MANUAL OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY," "STUDIES 
IN ETHICS AND RELIGION," ETC. 



" Humility in the solemn presence of a mysterious universe, 
and reverence for the Power that framed it, best become those 
who are but the creatures of a day." 



ILLUSTRATED 




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SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY 

NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO 









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* COf*Y B. ' 



Copyright, 1902, 
By silver, BURDETT & COMPANY 



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MOTIVE 

For many years the writer of these pages 
has felt a strong desire to give expression 
to his sentiments of gratitude and love to 
Barnas Sears, D.D., LL.D., his teacher in 
Christian Theology at Newton (1845-8), and 
his honored friend to the close of a noble 
life (1880). No sufficient record of his truly 
eminent services to the cause of education, 
whether theological, collegiate, or popular, 
can be made within the limits of a small vol- 
ume; but even a brief account of those ser- 
vices, as performed by such a man, may be 
welcome to not a few readers who find incen- 
tives to strenuous labor for the good of man- 
kind in the lives of past toilers in the same 
field. 

It is not forgotten that an eloquent tribute 
to his character as a man, and to his ability 
as a teacher of theology, was paid by his 

iii 



/<f/ 



iv Motive 

enthusiastic pupil, Doctor Oakman S. Steams ; 
but it was published in the Baptist Review for 
1883, and is accessible to few at the present 
time; moreover, it spoke of him chiefly ''as 
a theological professor," while a great part of 
his public service was in behalf of academic 
or popular education. It may be true, as Doc- 
tor Stearns intimates, that he never achieved 
a greater success than in his work at Newton, 
but it must always be remembered that his 
work in that school was but a small part of 
what he did for his country and mankind. 
It was brilliant and fruitful service, but only 
a fraction of his life-work, which must not 
be suffered to obscure the wide compass and 
rare merit of the rest. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 



PAGE 



Chronology • . . . ix 

I. Ancestry and Education . . i 

II. At Hartford and Hamilton . 22 

III. In Germany and France . . 26 

IV. Professor and President at 

Newton ..... 54 
V. Secretary of Massachusetts 

Board of Education . . 76 
VI. President and Professor of 

Brown University ... 91 
VII. Agent of the Peabody Educa- 
tional Fund . . . .110 

VIII. Home and Social Life . . 151 

IX. Last Address read by Dr. Ellis 1.60 
X. Retrospect. . . . .164 

Appendix 173 




THE SEARS COAT OF ARMS 



ILLUSTRATIONS 
The Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., about 

1871 . . . . . , Frontispiece 

Residence op Dr. Sears at Hamilton, page 
New York ..... 24 

F. A. G. Tholuck, Ph.D. . . . 42 

Residence of Dr. Sears, Centre Street, 

NevVton Centre, Mass., 1838-1848 60 

The Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., about 

1850 78 

Residence of Dr. Sears, Pleasant 
Street, Newton Centre, Mass., 
1848-1865 88 

The Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., about 

1861 94 

President's House, Brown University 106 

The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop . . 132 

Residence of Dr. Sears at Staunton, 

Virginia 152 

Corey Hill Homestead, Brookline, 

Mass. . . . . . .172 

Mrs. Sears, Mrs. Fultz, Capt. W. B. 

Sears, Capt. Edward Sears . . 176 



CHRONOLOGY 

Bom in Sandisfield, Mass., November 19, 1802. 

Entered Brown University in the spring of 1822. 

Graduated from Brown University, September 7. 1825, 

Entered the Newton Theological Institution, October, 
1825. 

Commenced preaching for First Baptist Church, Hart- 
ford, May 19, 1827. 

Ordained pastor of the same, July 11, 1827. 

Dismissed at his own request, March, 1829. 

Professor of Languages, Hamilton, N. Y., September, 
1829. 

Married in Brookline, Mass., July 6, 1830. 

Studied in Germany and France, 1833-35. 

Professor of Christian Theology in the Newton Theo- 
logical Institution, 1836-48. 

President of the Newton Theological Institution, 1839- 
48. 

S.T.D. by Harvard University, 1841. 

Secretary of Massachusetts Board of Education, 1848- 

55- 
President and Professor of Moral Philosophy, Brown 

University, 1855-67. 
LL.D. by Yale University, 1862. 
General Agent of the Peabody Educational Fund, 1867- 

80. 
President of the American Baptist Missionary Union, 

1874-77. 
Died at Saratoga, N. Y., July 6, 1880. 
Funeral at Brookline, Mass., July 9, 1880. 



Barnas Sears: 

A Christian Educator 



CHAPTER I 

ANCESTRY AND EDUCATION 

The American ancestry of Barnas Sears is 
worthy of distinct notice. He was of the 
seventh generation from Richard Sears, the 
emigrant ancestor (from Colchester, Eng- 
land) of a family well known in New Eng- 
land for business enterprise, public spirit, and 
religious influence. Between Richard Sears 
the first and Barnas Sears the seventh there 
were in the direct line four Pauls and one 
Joshua (Paul ' Paul \ Joshua *, Paul ^ Paul ") 
making it reasonable, if names are charac- 
teristic, to look for sound theology, courage, 



2 Barnas Sears 

zeal, and courtesy in the subject of our 
sketch. 

Barnas Sears was born on the 19th day of 
November, 1802, in Sandisfield, Berkshire 
County, Massachusetts. His parents were 
Paul and Rachel (Granger) Sears, both of 
whom lived to a good age. His father was 
born February 2, 1769, and died September 
25, 185 1, at the age of eighty-three years. 
He is said to have been a man of somewhat 
uneven temper, and to have had an unmar- 
ried brother of rugged nature, who was dis- 
posed to undervalue the studious aspirations 
of his nephew, Barnas. 

His mother was born August 4, 1771, and 
died August 23, 1846, at the age of seventy- 
five years. She was a woman of very even 
temper and gentle spirit, always character- 
ized by her son as one of the sweetest Chris- 
tians. It is, therefore, not surprising that 
we are told by one who ought to know, that 
" he had inherited a quick temper, but by the 
time his family were grown he had it under 
perfect control." It is added by the same 



A Christian Educator 3 

witness that ''his heart was warm and affec- 
tionate, so that, although separated from all 
his brothers and sisters for many years, he 
seldom spoke of them without emotion." ^ 

But, in looking for the sources of tempera- 
ment and ability, one need not restrict his 
quest to a man's parents. His earlier ances- 
try may be represented as well. And Doctor 
Sears may have had in mind this fact when 
he said: ''My grandfather, whom I remem- 
ber well, was one of the first settlers in the 
New Boston district of Sandisfield. He 
came from Chatham, though he was born in 
Harwich, Massachusetts, on the Cape. He was 
so pious and prayerful a man that young 
Christians of all denominations used to visit 
him, and gave him the name of 'the saint 
of New Boston.' " This grandfather, Paul 

' The children of Paul and Rachel (Granger) Sears 
were all bom in Sandisfield, Mass., in the following 
order: (i) Mary, July 2, 1788; (2) Alfred, September 
27» 1795; (3) Belinda, August 23, 1798; (4) Sally, July 
I, 1801; (5) Bamas, November 19, 1802; (6) Lyman, 
September, 1904; (7) David G., June 29, 1806; (8) 
John R., January 11, 1809; (9) Hiram, July 8, 181 1; 
(10) Henry, August 3, 1815. 



4 Barnas Sears 

Sears, was first connected with the ** Stand- 
ing Order"; but during the "great awaken- 
ing" he became a Separatist, and afterwards, 
following out his convictions, he united with 
others in organizing the First Baptist Church 
of Sandisfield. 

The first fifteen years of his life were 
passed by Barnas Sears on his father's farm, 
with only such opportunities for instruction 
as farm-boys had in the county of Berkshire 
a hundred years ago. The book of nature, 
with its hills and mountains, its forests and 
streams, its winters and summers, was open 
to him as to all, but the country schools were 
not as good as they have since been made. 
It was before the days of Horace Mann and 
the most vigorous attempts to improve the 
character of the public schools of the Bay 
State. But even then bright children in 
simple ways laid hold at an early age of 
the keys of knowledge, and gave to those who 
observed their proficiency, promise of fu- 
ture distinction. With such children must 
be numbered the one scholar, in a family of 



A Christian Educator 5 

ten (seven brothers and three sisters), whose 
name was Barnas, and who is described by a 
schoolmate as ''thoughtful, exemplary, and 
at the same time vigorous, fond of fun, full 
of jokes, an unconscious leader." Judging 
him by this description, the boy was '' father 
of the man." At the age of seven or eight 
he was a ruddy, laughing-eyed lad, notice- 
able anywhere in a group of his own age, and 
attractive even to strangers. How rich in 
lessons of life must those early years in Berk- 
shire have been! 

In speaking of Barnas as ''the one scholar 
in a family of ten children," no shadow of 
disrespect is meant for the others. The 
children were all capable and efficient. 
Several of his brothers became successful 
merchants, first in Hartford, Connecticut, 
and afterwards in New York City ; and none 
of them were lacking in vigorous character. 
They knew how to bring things to pass. 
Though not scholars, they were well-in- 
formed and worthy men and women. 

Referring to the common schools of New 



6 Barnas Sears 

England as they were conducted towards the 
year 1830, Doctor Sears wrote this for his 
last address : ' ' I will speak of them as I knew 
them, for I was in them about ten years as a 
pupil and six winters as a teacher during the 
first quarter of the century. The school- 
houses were somewhat improved. The large 
fireplaces, the movable seats, and the dunce- 
blocks and fool's caps were going out of use. 
Discipline was still severe, but there was a 
better supply of books, a better classification 
of the pupils, and a more regular order of 
exercises. Still, ever}^hing was mechanical 
and followed a certain routine, repeating 
empty words in a way which ossified thought ; 
and the teacher had so many things to do at 
once, and never time to do an}i:hing well, 
that there was often not a little confusion." 
This statement is followed by a remark- 
able ** word-picture" of the daily exercises 
of such a school, beginning with reading by 
the highest class, the account of which may 
be omitted. "During all the time that the 
lower classes were reading the school-room 



A Christian Educator 7 

presented a lively scene. The teacher's eyes, 
ears, tongue, and hands were busy, and 
sometimes nearly all at once. For example, 
while with one eye and one ear he was attend- 
ing to a reading lesson, he might, with the 
other, discover strange tricks, — especially if 
he turned around suddenly — and would 
shake one boy, pinch the ear or pull the hair 
of another, and call out a third for severer 
punishment. Meanwhile he would, almost 
incessantly, hear these words : * Please mend 
my pen,' 'Please set me a copy,' 'May I go 
out?' 'May I go to the fire?' 'Will you look 
over my sum?' These shrill sounds were 
heard till the youngest class was reached, and 
the child had repeated the alphabet at the 
point of the master's penknife. . . . Half 
the session being thus ended, the whole pro- 
cess (after 'going out') was reversed. The 
youngest child was called up again 'to say 
his letters,' — a term which fitly described the 
performance. Next followed an exercise 
which required genius. The task assigned 
was to make syllables by repeating in sundry 



8 Barnas Sears 

ways the first two letters of the alphabet, 
although there was no more connection be- 
tween those names and the syllables than 
there was between them and the moon. It 
reminds one of the story of the monk who 
filed his teeth in order to speak Hebrew. The 
spelling exercises, ascending from class to 
class till the first was reached, filled out the 
remainder of the half-day. . . . The spelling 
and the writing of the older classes were, per- 
haps, the least objectionable of all the school 
exercises." It was in such a school, accord- 
ing to his own testimony, that Barnas Sears 
was a pupil about ten years — at least a part 
of the time ; at first, perhaps, in the summer 
months and, later, presumably in the winter, 
beginning at the age of five and ending at the 
age of fifteen. 

During these years he acquired a taste for 
books, and his reading may have encroached 
sometimes on the hours of labor, to the 
annoyance of his bachelor uncle, if not to the 
grief of his more appreciative mother. And 
so when the ardent youth, at the age of fif- 



A Christian Educator 9 

teen, asked for the gift of his time, for the 
purpose of working his own way through col- 
lege, this uncle remarked ''that his father 
might as well let the boy go, as he was nothing 
but a book-boy, anyhow, and never seemed 
to care for work." 

Events, however, proved that he did care 
for work when it was a step towards a liberal 
education. For he presently made a contract 
with a neighbor to build for him a handsome 
stone wall, and not only fulfilled his contract 
by hiring another man to assist him with his 
team, but gained such a reputation for this 
kind of work as to be in constant demand. 

Whatever he did, he did well, for a high 
and holy motive had entered into his life. 
Two years before resolving to seek for him- 
self a liberal education, he had accepted 
Jesus Christ as his Lord, and had at once 
taken his place with the band of workers for 
the cause he loved. When he spoke in social 
meetings there was always silence, and inter- 
est in what he said. His pastor and his 
mother divined his calling, and encouraged 



lo Barnas Sears 

his longing to prepare for the highest Chris- 
tian service. 

So with his father's consent, he imdertook 
the long task of personal training at his own 
charges. * ' He wrought hard during the sum- 
mer," and the following winter, at the age of 
sixteen, we find him teaching school, begin- 
ning thus early and bravely what proved to 
be the principal vocation of his life. His 
first teacher in the classics was the Rev. 
Timothy M. Cooley of Granville, a neighbor- 
ing town in Massachusetts, who was some- 
what famous in his day for success in fitting 
boys for college. But before entering Brown 
young Barnas repaired to the University 
school and put himself under the tuition of 
Jesse Hartwell, its accomplished principal. 

At a later period he thus characterizes this 
class of schools as they were then conducted : 

** In the academies the teachers, as a class, 
were well-educated men. The schools were 
sometimes for both sexes, and consequently 
had classes in English studies ; but when they 
served as preparatory schools only, little was 



A Christian Educator 1 1 

taught in them but the elements of Latin and 
Greek, and even these were rather studied in 
books than taught by the preceptor. The 
education, therefore, which boys fitting for 
college received, was mainly through a vigor- 
ous exercise of the memory in learning the 
words of an ancient language. A weekly 
composition on some of the virtues or vices, 
and a declamation every Wednesday from 
some great orator, such as Chatham or Pat- 
rick Henry, were the only variations from 
the Latin and Greek exercises." In such 
schools Barnas Sears fitted for college. 

A severe -fever prevented him from joining 
his class at the opening of the Freshman year 
in the autumn of 182 1, but he joined it in the 
spring of 1822, and was graduated in 1825, 
his part at the Commencement being the 
philosophical oration, and his theme, ''The 
Influence of Association upon the Intellec- 
tual Character.'* 

Of his course as a college student but little 
is known. Yet from a statement of later 
years it is certain that he made no persistent 



12 Barnas Sears 

effort to stand at the head of his class in 
recitation, but preferred a broader scholar- 
ship, without " cramming." In weighing the 
significance of this statement it would be 
well to bear in mind, first, that the regular 
circle of college studies was at that time 
(1821-25) much smaller than at present. 
Few, if any, elective courses were offered to 
students who were ambitious to enlarge the 
circuit of their knowledge beyond the pre- 
scribed limits of instruction for all. 

Speaking of the colleges of that day. Doctor 
Sears remarks that ''The funds of the colleges, 
and consequently the salaries of the officers, 
were low. My old president (Dr. Asa Mes- 
ser) received twelve hundred dollars. I re- 
member this from the fact that once, when 
he was asked why he did not resign, he said 
he 'had twelve hundred reasons for not 
resigning.' The professors lived on eight 
hundred dollars a year, if they had good 
positions, or five hundred dollars if they had 
not. In earlier times each college had a 
president, two or three professors, one of 



A Christian Educator 13 

whom taught the theology of his church 
(never in Brown University, however!), and 
two tutors. . . . The student first fell 
into the hands of a tutor, stiff and very pre- 
cise about preserving his somewhat doubtful 
dignity. He had a room in college, and 
acted as a spy and officer of police. His ex- 
periences were often very romantic. . 
Our professors were more portly men, going 
on to sixty. Sitting cross-legged in an arm- 
chair, against which a silver-headed cane 
leaned, they would insist on your giving 
them the exact words of Blair (false English 
and all), or of Kames, and of Stewart and 
Hedge. Our president, who heard us in 
Enfield's philosophy, was more communica- 
tive and even facetious. ... In lan- 
guages, beyond making Latin, after Clarke's 
Introduction, there was nothing, if we except 
scanning, but translating and parsing; no 
true philology, nothing of the necessary mean- 
ing of words from derivation and usage, or of 
the force of grammatical forms and construc- 
tion. Everything depended on translation, 



14 Barnas Sears 

generally guessed out, often stolen." Yet 
he adds that "Many young men, while 
they yielded passively to college customs, 
had high aims and fixed purposes. They 
were faithful in their studies, and made the 
most of their opportunities ; and, more than 
all, though boys, they were to become men ; all 
had taken the true measure of themselves; 
had formed warm and lasting friendships; 
had at least surveyed the field of knowledge, 
and knew what to do in after life; had, in 
some way, been so long within the college 
walls as to take on an air of liberal culture; 
had, in some measure, acquired a literary 
taste. When the time for manly action 
arrived, slumbering capacities were not un- 
frequently aroused which placed their posses- 
sors in the first rank of society. Exactly the 
same requirements were made of all students. 
So much of mathematics, so much of Latin 
and Greek, must be swallowed by every one, 
whether his digestive organs were adequate 
or not for their work." 

It should be remembered, secondly, that 



^ A Christian Educator 15 

Barnas Sears was already a close reader of 
books, gathering rich harvests of truth from 
the wide fields of literature. There was no 
sluggish vein in his nature. Whatever he 
did, he did with all the force of high aspira- 
tion and purpose. From his excursions into 
the realms of history, philosophy, moral sci- 
ence, and Christian literature, he must have 
returned with treasures of learning. It is not 
known that he ever expressed regret for the 
method of work which he pursued in college, 
or that he was dissatisfied with the instruc- 
tion which he received. But it is understood 
that he sometimes found it no easy task to 
obtain the funds needed for his support in 
study. At one time he went to Boston for 
help, and, being too poor to pay his fare by 
stage-coach, he walked all the way thither, 
a distance of forty-one miles, and after ob- 
taining the sum required, returned to Provi- 
dence in the same manner — a bracing 
"constitutional" for the tall (six feet and 
two inches), graceful, and energetic young 
man who was moving with a resolute step 



1 6 Barnas Sears 

into the future! Such exercise, if less at- 
tractive than lawn tennis or foot-ball, was 
no less convincing proof of genuine nobility 
of character. He was a common school 
teacher '' six winters," and some of these must 
have fallen to his years in college. But no 
reference to his wages as a school-master has 
been discovered. It probably varied with 
the size of the school and the place of its 
location. How long he persisted in laying 
fine stone-wall during the summer vacations, 
for needed funds, is not known to the writer. 
No definite record of his religious life in 
college has been preserved. He kept no 
diary of his progress in knowledge or of his 
growth in grace. If he had, as may be 
assumed, periods of self-distrust as well as 
periods of confidence and hope, he suffered 
them to pass without complaint or exulta- 
tion. Yet he appears to have availed him- 
self of opportunities to preach the gospel to 
those who were ready to hear ifc; and then, 
as ever afterwards, he did his work in the 
pulpit without the help or hindrance of a 



A Christian Educator 17 

manuscript. He preferred to look hearers in 
the face, all the more, perhaps, because his 
handwriting was not large enough to be. 
easily read at a distance. Moreover, he was 
keenly alive to his connection with the people 
before him and stimulated by their uncon- 
cealed interest in what he was saying. For 
he rarely failed to win their earnest attention. 
All eyes in the assembly were sure to be fixed 
on the tall and animated speaker. And 
from his method and success in preaching 
during his undergraduate course, it may be 
safely inferred that his spiritual life was not 
sluggish for any length of time, but, on the 
contrary, was vigorous and hopeful. What- 
ever he did, he did with his whole mind and 
soul, and, as far as can be ascertained, his 
purpose to serve Christ in the ministry never 
wavered. 

From college to seminary Barnas Sears 
passed after the interval of a summer vaca- 
tion, and he certainly found the circle of 
studies in a theological course even more 
absorbing than that of the college. His 



i8 Barnas Sears 

teachers were Doctors Irah Chase and Henry 
J. Ripley, both of them accurate instructors 
and reverent scholars. There were few 
text-books, and the library of the Newton 
Theological Institution, then at the very 
beginning of its history, was meagre and 
unattractive ; but the ideals of its founders 
were high, as were also the hopes of the 
young men who came there in quest of re- 
ligious truth. The elements of Hebrew were 
dictated at first to the students by Doctor 
Chase, and the neatly written pages of "B. 
Sears' s" note-book prove that he made good 
use of accurate instruction in that vener- 
able language. The chair of New Testament 
interpretation was soon filled by Doctor 
Ripley, a pupil of Moses Stuart, and his 
peer in exact knowledge and sound judg- 
ment. Besides the ''regular course," there 
were some opportunities for special re- 
search, and books enough within reach to 
make it possible. Beyond any doubt, there- 
fore, the days of the seminary life of Mr. 
Sears were busy and delightful. The beauti- 



A Christian Educator 19 

ful scenery of the place must have filled his 
soul with cheer, and his rambling over the 
hills and through the valleys must have 
given vigor to his erect and manly form. 
It is impossible to imagine him unmoved by 
the aspects of nature which were spread be- 
fore him morning and evening. God was in 
his own world, and the alert and wide- 
visioned student was daily taking lessons 
from that world. But his correspondence at 
the time has not been preserved, and we are 
therefore indebted to our knowledge of the 
man, and to his manner of referring to college 
and seminary days, for our assurance of his 
enthusiasm in the work and the recreation 
which they brought him. 

There is good reason to suppose that Bar- 
nas Sears found pleasure during the latter 
part of his course at Newton in calling rather 
frequently upon a most worthy family in 
Brookline. The distance was less than five 
miles, by rural ways, from the top of Institu- 
tion Hill to the house of Deacon Elijah Corey, 
near the western base of Corey Hill, and an 



20 Barnas Sears 

active and purposeful student would have 
scarcely counted his steps in making it. The 
goal must have seemed near enough, and the 
prize fair enough, to call for a frequent walk 
in that direction. For the prize was nothing 
less than one who became his companion for 
life two or three years later (July 6, 1830). 
More invigorating out-door exercise could not 
have been desired; unless, indeed, he were 
able to climb, now and then, in a star-lit 
evening to the summit of Corey Hill, in the 
best of company, there to rest awhile and 
"view the landscape o'er" — a truly mag- 
nificent panorama — before returning to the 
hospitable mansion below. It may be inno- 
cently fancied that Barnas Sears and one or 
more of the Corey girls sometimes did this, 
to their mutual satisfaction. It is, however, 
impossible to say how intimate their ac- 
quaintance became during his Newton days, 
for EHzabeth G. Corey attended Miss Caro- 
line Beecher's Young Ladies' School in Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, during the two years after 
Mr. Sears left Newton to become pastor of 



A Christian Educator 21 

the First Baptist Church in Hartford. The 
school was a famous one, and it is more than 
probable that the young lady here continued 
her acquaintance with her Newton friend, 
enjoying his attentions as well as his 
ministry. 



CHAPTER II 

AT HARTFORD AND AT HAMILTON 
1828-1833 

During the last year of his course in New- 
ton, Barnas Sears accepted a call to the 
pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, an incidental proof of his 
persistence in the habit of preaching by way 
of supply to churches that needed his ser- 
vices. He was ordained in the year 1828, 
and engaged with all his heart in ministerial 
duties. Tall, erect, with a noble bearing and 
uncommon personal attractiveness, he easily 
gained the hearts of his people. His success, 
both as a preacher and as a pastor, was 
marked, and it seemed for a brief period that 
his vocation for life would be in the pulpit. 
More than forty years afterwards he **was 

affectionately remembered by the few sur- 

22 



A Christian Educator 23 

vivors of his flock" (Stearns). But before 
the end of his second year in Hartford he 
began to suffer severely with a bronchial 
weakness which troubled him frequently 
during the rest of his life. For this reason 
he was willing to accept the professorship of 
ancient languages in the ''Hamilton Literary 
and Theological Institution" in 1829. 

Professor Sears was a lover of the classics, 
and his brief career in Hamilton as a teacher 
of the ancient languages was nothing less than 
brilliant. The school was young, but more 
distinguished for its religious character and 
evangelical theology than for a high standard 
of literary attainment. Barnas Sears be- 
came the rising star of the faculty and the 
pride of the students. In his address at the 
Jubilee Anniversary at Madison University 
(now Colgate), Doctor Eaton said : " No man 
ever connected with the faculty was more 
admired and loved; and on no one were 
higher hopes reposed than upon Professor 
Sears. He was the pride and glory of the 
institution in its intellectual and literary 



24 Barnas Sears 

character, to which his short connection had 
powerfully contributed." It appears that he 
also served the church in Hamilton as pastor 
during a part, at least, of this triennium. 

But he was presently convinced that the 
course of theological study and instruction, 
which was the raison d'etre for the existence 
of the school, ought to be extended and im- 
proved; others agreed with him on the 
point, and in order to accomplish this end 
he was transferred from the chair of ancient 
languages to a new chair of biblical theology. 
But as there was no class prepared to enter 
at once on the new study, and as he himself 
felt the need of further preparation for the 
great chair to which he had been assigned, it 
was deemed necessary for him to visit Ger- 
many, and learn the methods of work in that 
land of scholars and libraries. Doubtless the 
impulse to visit Germany was due to his own 
mind, rather than to that of any other per- 
son. For already the faculties of theology 
in German universities had earned the dis- 
tinction of remarkable freedom in religious 




RESIDENCE OF DR. SEARS, HAMILTON, NEW YORK, 1830-33 



A Christian Educator 25 

speculation as well as in biblical criticism, 
and it required more decision of purpose than 
it does now for a young professor, who ex- 
pected to be a teacher of biblical theology, to 
put him.self in contact with the German free- 
thinkers or rationalists, as they were called. 
But Professor. Sears who was a man of deep 
religious convictions and quick intellect, re- 
solved to profit by the stimulating inquiries 
pushed to their furthest limit by educators in 
Halle, Leipsic, Berlin, and Paris. 



CHAPTER III 

IN GERMANY AND FRANCE 
(1833-1835) 

Accordingly, leaving his wife and child 
with her parents in Brookline, Mass. (for he 
had been married in 1830 to Miss Elizabeth 
G. Corey of that town), he embarked at New 
York on the 12th of July, 1833, for Ham- 
burg, where he landed on the 24th of August 
and found ''several pious friends having Bap- 
tist sentiments," who wished to be immersed 
and organized into a Baptist church. Among 
these was J. G. Oncken, who was to become 
so well known as the bold and sagacious 
leader of his brethren in Northern Europe, 
though suffering for a time many things for 
the Lord's sake. The steadfast disciples 
were advised by Professor Sears to defer 
their public confession of faith until he had 

26 



A Christian Educator 27 

become better acquainted with the whole 
situation. 

The following citations from letters to Mrs. 
Sears will bring the course of events more 
distinctly before the reader: 

" Hamburg, August 24, 1833. 
"I have written that the passage to the 
Azores was pleasant and occupied fourteen 
days. We passed through the English Chan- 
nel in less than two days, and from the 
Straits of Dover to the Texel we sailed in 
twenty-four hours. Here a storm com- 
menced which drove us most furiously all the 
way to Cuxhaven, a distance of thirty miles. 
The North Sea is dreaded by all the sons of 
the ocean, as it is full of shoals and quick- 
sands all along the eastern coast, with only 
very narrow passages at the mouth of the 
rivers, especially at the Weser and Elbe. 
We had no pilot and our sailors felt great 
alarm. / felt as I had never felt before. 
When the storm became overpowering about 
9 o'clock in the evening, knowing that I was 



28 Barnas Sears 

too much exhausted to struggle with the 
waves, should it at length become necessary, 
I arranged my things so as to have the most 
valuable at hand, spent some time in calm 
but painful reflection, solemnly committed 
myself to God, my only Helper, and, incred- 
ible as it may seem, lay down in my clothes 
and slept, not knowing but that I should 
awake in a foundered ship ! Oh, how cheer- 
ing was the morning light! But the storm 
still was raging, hurling us swiftly between 
rocks and sand-banks, and the whole day 
was spent in fear. At sunset the gale 
brought us into the mouth of the Elbe, the 
yellow, sandy-looking Elbe, and we soon set 
foot on the green turf of Cuxhaven, which at 
that moment we would not have exchanged 
for so much gold." 

"August 27, 1833. 
"After leaving Cuxhaven we ascended the 
Elbe for three miles before discovering its 
northern bank. From that point to Ham- 
burg, a distance of seventy miles, the river 



A Christian Educator 29 

averages two miles in width. ... I find 
several pious friends here, and eight or ten 
persons having Baptist sentiments. These 
request me to baptize them. But I have 
decided to wait, hoping we may organize a 
church and ordain a minister. I expect to 
remain here until September 3d, and then, 
accompanied by Mr. Oncken, go to Berlin, 
whence I hope to go direct to Halle.'* 

** Halle, April 8, 1834. 
"Mr. Oncken's letter contained a request 
for me to come to Hamburg (three hundred 
miles) and baptize himself and several others, 
and to form a church. As the summer term 
at Leipsic commences the 5th of May, I could 
not well go after that time ; I have therefore 
concluded to go the last of the present week. 
. . . From your request concerning some- 
one to write to you in case anything should 
befall me, I perceive that you think me a 
greater stranger here than I really am. It 
would be impossible for you not to hear. I 
can hardly count the number who would do 



30 Barnas Sears 

everything as for a brother. 'As strangers, 
and yet well known' (Paul). ... I go 
to Halle next Friday, and there join Mr. 
Haverstick, who is going on my way as far 
as Helmstadt. I shall then pass to Bruns- 
wick and Hanover, and thence to Hamburg, 
and shall probably return by a still more 
southern route, so as to visit new places 
every time. ... If you wish to know how 
I spend the vacation, it is thus : I am review- 
ing the Hebrew I read in Halle. I have a 
little book, in which I write down every word 
that I have to look out in the dictionary, and 
these words I commit to memory. This 
little book will be my pocket companion to 
Hamburg. I am now also directing my at- 
tention to Latin. Before the summer closes 
I intend to speak it fluently. It is certainly 
a shame for a scholar to be dependent upon 
a Latin dictionary! I expect to have occa- 
sion to read much Latin ; it begins to seem a 
little like a native language." 

At about midnight of the 2 2d of April 
seven persons were baptized by Professor 



A Christian Educator 31 

Sears in the river Elbe, a few miles from the 
city, and, according to the following certifi- 
cate in the hand writing of Barnas Sears, 
Mr. J. G. Oncken was ordained by him the 
next day to the Gospel ministry. 

" Hamburg, April 23, 1834. 
'' Dear Brother Oncken: 

" This is to testify to all whom it may con- 
cern, that, at the request of the Baptist church 
in this place, after being fully satisfied of your 
personal piety, of the correctness of your views 
of Christian doctrine, of your possessing those 
ministerial qualifications specified in Scrip- 
ture, & of your being called both by the Spirit 
and Providence of God to the work of the min- 
istry, I have by prayer and the imposition of 
hands solemnly set you apart to that respon- 
sible office; and in the name of the church in 
which I hold an official standing as a regular 
ordained minister, pronounce you scripturally 
invested with all the powers which belong to a 
pastor of the flock of Christ and to a minister of 
the gospel. May the Lord grant that you may 



32 Barnas Sears 

have a higher testimony than man can give^ 
that you may he recognized by him as a good 
minister of Jesus Christ; and may it be your 
exalted privilege to win, through grace, many 
souls to his love; and to build up, in true 
knowledge, faith, and every Christian virtue y 
the church, redeemed by his precious blood. 
I hereby also commend you to the confidence of 
the Christian public, as a minister of the gos- 
pel, and to the affectionate regards of all who 
love our Lord Jesus Christ. 

" Barnas Sears, 

" Professor of Biblical Theology in the Hamilton Literary 
and Theological Seminary, and formerly Pastor of 
the Baptist Church in Hamilton, N. Y., in North 
America." 

On the 27th of April, 1834, he wrote as 
follows to his wife: "My heart burns to tell 
you without delay of what has happened here 
to-day. Everything has gone on with me 
much according to expectation, only more 
favorably. I have baptized seven persons, 
have constituted a church, and have ordained 
Mr. Oncken as pastor. Several more are 
asking for baptism, but we think it prudent 



A Christian Educator 33 

to defer it a little. . . . To-day our little 
flock have partaken of the Lord's Supper to- 
gether! The scene was one of surpassing 
interest ! They seemed to be overcome with 
feeling, and everyone was in tears. Dear 
friends! I never expect again to sit with 
them on such an occasion till we meet in an- 
other world. There is a prospect that the 
Government will not disturb them." 

In that hope he was too sanguine ; yet the 
little group, in spite of much opposition for a 
time, has become more than a hundred thou- 
sand, including a large number as offshoots 
from the German mission. In this whole 
transaction we have a fine illustration of the 
mingled discretion and courage which marked 
the conduct of Professor Sears through life. 
He was neither rash on the one hand nor 
timid on the other. He met emergencies 
manfully, but did not seek them. He was 
prepared to stand fast in the face of opposi- 
tion, but he avoided provoking it. 

Although much absorbed by his duties in 
Germany, Professor Sears often refers with 



34 Barnas Sears 

deep interest to the members of his family. 
Thus, in a letter dated May 26, 1834, he says: 
"I think no person ever had such a mother. 
When I think of her virtues and of all she has 
done for me, my feelings are beyond expres- 
sion. . . . My friends are all too good 
for me. It is such a relief to be able to 
think of wife and child as well and happy." 
In another letter to his wife, dated August 
10, 1834, he thus refers to members of the 
family, and it is a sample of many similar 
passages: "When you write your sister, re- 
member me particularly to Brother Pratt 
(who had married his wife's sister) and tell 
them that it rejoices my heart that even in 
Europe I hear of his fame. I would write 
to him if I thought a letter would ever reach 
him and an answer reach me here. I have a 
great fondness for him. I suppose Mother 
Corey has, by this time, experienced the bit- 
terness of parting with dear Sarah and Mr. 
Comstock. May your sister go attended 
with peace and prosperity! It is a noble 
sacrifice." 



A Christian Educator 35 

Of his residence in Germany but a brief 
account can be given. He entered upon his 
studies in Halle with high hopes and great 
ardor. He was there several months and 
formed a life-long friendship with Tholuck 
and Gesenius. The former was admired by 
him as a powerful preacher of evangelical 
truth, and, at the same time, as a versatile 
scholar and attractive teacher. Gesenius, it 
is said, advised him to read Arabic after read- 
ing Syriac; Tholuck advised Rabbinical 
Hebrew. He followed the advice of both, 
being ready to undertake anything that 
promised to be useful to him in his chosen 
work. ' * I am transported into a new world, ' ' 
he writes, ''and in study have commenced a 
new life. I feel as if I had been seven or 
eight years slowly waking up out of sleep, and 
am just beginning to be wide awake. If I 
succeed, as I now hope, I shall bring home a 
cart-load of notes and have matter enough 
to digest all the remainder of my life." 

Every reader of this memorial will be 
pleased to see parts of a letter written by 



36 Barnas Sears 

Professor Sears from Halle. In the first 
part of this letter he refers to Doctor Tholuck 
in the following terms: ''The University of 
Halle has no place of worship attached to it ; 
it has, however, a morning service once in 
the week in one of the principal churches of 
the city. The preacher appointed by the 
King of Prussia was Professor Marks; but, 
when Doctor Tholuck came to Halle and was 
appointed associate preacher, he drew so 
much larger audiences than Professor Marks 
that the latter resigned. Standing almost 
alone in his evangelical sentiments, Tholuck 
attracts throngs of rationalists to hear his 
melting appeals in behalf of * a religion pure 
and undefiled.' The first discourse that I 
heard from him was upon Luther's birthday. 
He preached like a reformer, and it seemed 
as if the congregation were ashamed of hav- 
ing departed so egregiously from the stand- 
ards of the faith. The next time that he 
preached happened to be on the Lutheran 
festival in memory of the dead ; and, though 
he is no admirer of papal rites, he did not 



A Christian Educator 37 

hesitate to seize the opportunity to give sol- 
emn counsel to the living. The hymn se- 
lected for the occasion" was the Dies IrcB, or 
'The Last Judgment,' by Celano of the thir- 
teenth century. It is a masterly production, 
and must live as long as Christianity itself. 
It was impossible to refrain from tears when, 
at the 7th stanza, all the trumpets ceased, 
and the choir, accompanied by a softened 
tone of the organ, sang these touching lines : 

* Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, 
Quem patronum rogaturus, 
Quum vix Justus sit securus ? ' 

Though there are ten different German ver- 
sions of this hymn, none of them reach the 
beautiful simpHcity of the original. Both 
Goethe and Scott have introduced parts of 
it into their poetical works, and the most 
distinguished modern compositors have set 
it to music." 

In the same letter is a graphic description 
of the opening services on a great occasion at 
the University church, and we can almost 



38 Barnas Sears 

see his changing countenance as he sat or 
stood in the vast assembly. " The assembly- 
was immense. We went very early in order 
to obtain a seat, and found hundreds crowd- 
ing about the passages before the doors were 
opened. At the door we obtained the printed 
sheet containing the hymns and responses of 
the day. The service commenced with sing- 
ing two stanzas, in which the whole congre- 
gation joined. The Germans, it is known, 
are a musical people. The cultivation of the 
voice is with them a part of education ; and 
when in church the old and young all pour 
out their song together, it seems to touch a 
chord of public sympathy and to operate 
somewhat like the old national songs of the 
Swiss mountaineers. We sat silently in 
front of the pulpit, and when the congrega- 
tion paused we could just hear at the altar 
at our extreme left the accent of the preacher 
uttering the Lord's Prayer; then, suddenly, 
voices of melody broke upon our ear from 
the orchestra of the gallery in the opposite 
extreme of the house. The preacher and the 



A Christian Educator 39 

choir were facing each other and responding, 
while the whole congregation, standing, oc- 
cupied the vast space between. The words 
are generally some of the most impressive 
and poetical parts of Scripture, and the music 
of a select character. The choir, which is 
trained with great care, consists of men and 
small boys. 

" And I must confess that no human voice 
produces upon me so fine an effect as the 
cultivated voice of a boy. It is not, indeed, 
so deep and rich in the expression of human 
passion as that of a man, nor has it the vari- 
ous power and compass of a female voice. 
But in those light and shrill tones, which waft 
the spirit upward, it is unique and unrivalled. 
As artists select the forms of boys as the 
best ideal of angel forms, so may the music 
of their voices be selected as the best ideal of 
seraphic music. It is not difficult to fancy 
that such sounds were heard on the plains of 
Bethlehem. 

'' During the responses the organ was silent. 
Then followed what is called the ' chief song,' 



40 Barnas Sears 

in which everything that could utter a sound 
united. In these shouts of the multitude 
and tumultuous clangor of instruments, 
which appear like an attempt to carry the 
heart by storm, there is, in my opinion, some- 
thing too gross and physical to have the hap- 
piest effect. The chorister acted a kind of 
pantomime, which was designed, I suppose, 
to direct the choir, but which made him 
appear like a harlequin. Before the hymn 
was concluded, the preacher was standing in 
the pulpit in true German style, — in a fixed 
posture, with his hands clasped before his 
breast and his eyes turned upward, — and 
produced, I hope, a happier impression upon 
others than upon the writer. After a few 
words of introduction, the text was an- 
nounced and the congregation rose when it 
was read. Sometimes the introduction of 
the sermon is from another passage of Scrip- 
ture, and then a hymn intervenes between 
the introduction and the sermon. Not long 
after the commencement of the discourse, 
the little velvet bag, fastened to the end of a 



A Christian Educator 41 

rod with a small bell, passes through the con- 
gregation and every one casts in his mite. 
Why the time of sermon should be chosen for 
this business I cannot divine." 

This, surely, is a very graphic picture of 
what preceded the sermon itself. Professor 
Sears now turns to the latter, and especially 
to the preacher. Doctor Tholuck, whose work 
in the pulpit he greatly admired. ''Here 
ended all that could be offensive to one's 
taste or piety ; and now one of the most de- 
vout Christians and a distinguished scholar 
and critic came forth to act a part where his 
great strength lies. His familiarity with the 
language and spirit of the Old and New Tes- 
tament, with the works of genius not only in 
the literary treasures of Greece and Rome 
and in the languages of modern Europe, but 
also in the wide field of Oriental literature, 
affords him rare facilities of pouring out his 
glowing thoughts so as to strike every capac- 
ity and reach every human passion. The 
child-like simplicity of his character and 
manner, the tenderness of his affections, and 



42 Barnas Sears 

the subduing influence of religion upon his 
understanding and heart, win for him the 
confidence of his hearers, while the truth of 
his own feelings and his deep philosophic 
knowledge of the human heart enable him to 
speak to it directly and powerfully in its 
agonies and in its joys, in its repose and in 
its tumults. Like a part of nature he seems 
to know all that human nature has felt or 
can feel, and hence has a power over the sym- 
pathy of others with which few men are 
gifted. The strength of maternal affection, 
the confiding simplicity of childhood, the si- 
lent grief of the widow, the loneliness of the 
orphan, the retrospect of old age . . . 
all revive at his touch with the freshness of 
original feelings. He thrills the heart with 
the assaults of truth, not so much by follow- 
ing men in their business and pleasures as in 
stealing upon those moments of reflection 
when light flashes upon the conscience and 
disturbs the dream of life. The man of the 
world who is sometimes visited by a recollec- 
tion of early religious impressions, of a pious 




F. A. Q. THOLUCK, Ph.D. 



A Christian Educator 43 

father's sacred counsels or of a mother's 
tears ; the man of business in whose path the 
footsteps of providence are too plain to be 
denied or doubted; the statesman who is 
often driven back to religion as the only 
conservative principle of national security; 
professional men of every name, who, in all 
the ultimate truths of science, find a mys- 
terious God; and the student who, in the 
strife of human opinion, finds no resting place 
for the soul, — these all bow, for the time 
being, to the preacher's power, and acknowl- 
edge that he knows the way to their hearts ; 
not unfrequently saying, 'Almost thou per- 
suadest me to be a Christian.' As might be 
expected, he is often the instrument of con- 
version, not only in his preaching, but also 
in his private intercourse and in his exten- 
sive correspondence. The plain, practical 
doctrines of Christianity are his principal 
themes, and all things else come in as acci- 
dental aids. He is neither boisterous nor 
artificially nice, but calm and sincere." 
Not less graphic is Professor Sears 's picture 



44 Barnas Sears 

of lecture-room work in the University. 
*'The University of Halle has no splendid 
pile of buildings, but on the contrary, the 
principal lecture-rooms are in different parts 
of the city. The only common centre is near 
the market, where all the public notices of 
the University are put up. Each faculty has 
its separate place of advertisement. As one 
approaches towards the entrance he sees a 
frame containing a case over which is written, 
*Ordo Theologicus,' beyond it another with 
'Ordo Philosophicus,' including philology, 
and then follow the faculties of law and medi- 
cine. Each professor puts up in his own 
handwriting, commonly in Latin, a notice of 
all his exercises. The interior of the lecture- 
rooms resembles that of large session rooms. 
Every seat is numbered and every student 
has his particular place. When the hour of 
lecture arrives, the students are very punc- 
tually in their assigned places. They usually 
spend fifteen minutes in mending their pens, 
fixing their papers, whistling and smoking 
before the lecturer appears. When he en- 



A Christian Educator 45 

ters, a simultaneous hiss is heard all over the 
room and all is instantly still. The students 
have nothing to do but to write down the 
lecture as it is delivered. Some of the pro- 
fessors add much to the interest and value of 
their lectures by giving a copious exposition 
of a single topic extemporaneously, and then 
stating the substance of it in a condensed 
form. Thus the students can drop their 
pens and give their whole attention to the 
subject ; and by the fulness of extemporane- 
ous illustration perfectly understand the 
views of the lecturer, while he can select with 
better judgment, and abridge with more 
skill, what they are to commit to writing. 
The whole process of dictation appears, at 
least to a stranger, not a little ludicrous. 

" The professors exercise no government. 
The number of one's hearers, and, of course, 
his income, depends on his popularity with 
the students. One professor last summer 
read a full course of lectures to two students 
who sat each side of him on a sofa in his own 
parlor. The students hear whom they please 



46 Barnas Sears 

and no professor can be independent by vir- 
tue of his office. Nothing but his talent, or 
rather his tact, secures to him power and 
influence. The only real check upon the 
student is that his final examination will be 
rigid. He is advised and taught the relative 
importance of different branches of study in 
the lectures on Encydopcedia. The lecturers, 
therefore, must use much art, for they must 
have a hearing. Some are amusing and dis- 
cursive and stoop to gratify a depraved 
taste. Some flash with the brilliancy of 
their wit. Some give the fruits of immense 
reading on subjects not very closely con- 
nected with what they profess to teach. 
Others, laying their account with the good 
sense of the students, render their lectures as 
nearly as possible what they should be. 
When a lecturer is dictating, he appears like 
a horse accustomed to the mill. If he is not 
heard, or if he dictates too fast, the signal is 
given by a hiss, which is neither given nor 
received as a token of disrespect, but as a 
mere conventional sign for mutual conven- 



A Christian Educator 47 

ience. If an opinion expressed by a profes- 
sor is offensive to the students, they set up 
a murmuring noise. Though Tholuck now 
has more hearers than any other lecturer in 
Halle, I have often heard their sullen growls 
when he openly dissented from Gesenius or 
De Wette; or recommended Hengstenberg's 
views, or Olshausen's. But if there is a 
large number of students of opposite feelings, 
as is commonly the case, they hush the noise 
by raising a respectful hiss. If it is lamen- 
table to see such theological students, it is, 
on the other hand, pleasing to see Tholuck 
gaining the ascendency over them. What 
adds to the strangeness of the scene is to see 
several present in military dress. But it 
should be remembered that Prussia is a mili- 
tary kingdom, and that most of the students 
do military duty one year while at the Uni- 
versity." 

In a postscript to this letter, not, of course, 
intended for publication, the writer says that 
**the political state of Germany is dreadful. 
Revolutionists must fight, I believe, before 



48 Barnas Sears 

this part of Europe can be quiet. . . . Labor 
here is but Httle higher by the year than with 
us by the month. Men Hve on air. Many 
of the professors are as poor as snakes. . . . 
During the winter I am obHged to send all 
my letters to Havre. The postage to that 
place costs at least fifty cents. When the 
spring opens I can send much cheaper by 
Hamburg. . . . May I have your prayers 
that I be not the worse but the better, for 
having come to Germany.'* Yours in Chris- 
tian love, 

" Barnas Sears. 

"Halle, Jan. i8, 1834." 

From Halle, after his visit to Hamburg 
and the baptism of Oncken, Professor Sears 
went to Leipsic and came into pleasant rela- 
tions with Winer, Rosenmliller, Hermann, 
and other professors of the University. His 
love of classical studies was rekindled at this 
place, and he wrote: ''I am drinking at the 
fountain of Greek and Roman literature, and 
could easily make this the pursuit of my life." 
He was attracted, if not fascinated, by 



A Christian Educator 49 

the German method of teaching Latin, and 
especially by the practice of lecturing and 
conversing in Latin. His own facility in ac- 
quiring the power to converse in a foreign 
language was remarkable, and he soon learned 
to understand the people with whom he was 
living. Within less than a month after he 
entered France he was able to understand 
the Parisians and speak with them freely. 
It is also evident that he mastered very rap- 
idly the common words and ordinary con- 
struction of every language which he wished 
to learn. 

It is interesting to notice how completely 
Professor Sears gave himself to the work in 
hand. Thus, in a letter from Leipsic, May 
26, 1834, he says: ''This summer I shall be 
buried in Latin. Lectures, private lessons, 
and almost everything is in Latin. Since I 
began this letter I have had to check myself 
and resist German and Latin expressions. I 
am charmed with the lectures of Winer and 
Hermann. I do not mean to say that I be- 
lieve all these men say, but I am instructed 



50 Barnas Sears 

and greatly stimulated by their genius and 
learning. ... I now have a daily exer- 
cise in speaking Latin. This makes me wish 
to read every Latin book I can find. The 
greatest modern Latin writers — Muretus, 
Ruhnken, and Wittenbach — are scarcely out 
of my hands a minute. My only trouble is 
that I wish to read them all at once." Rarely 
is any one so fully absorbed in his studies. 
He was for the time being toUis in illis. 

From Leipsic Professor Sears repaired to 
Berlin, and at the great University of that 
city became acquainted with Mliller, "with 
whom no living physiologist can easily dis- 
pute the palm;" with Bopp, "the founder 
and richest ornament of the Sanscrit school 
of comparative philology ; ' ' with Bock, ' ' the 
greatest living master of Grecian antiquity;" 
with Bekker, "the greatest editor of the 
Greek classics from manuscript authorities;" 
with Zumpt, "the Latin grammarian;" with 
Grimm, "the greatest German grammarian, 
lexicographer, and antiquary ; " with Charles 
Ritter, "the prince of geographers;" with 



A Christian Educator 51 

Ranke the historian, "with no rival but 
Guizot; with the self-taught Pertz, until 
lately librarian when Leibnitz was in Han- 
over but now in Berhn, prosecuting the 
greatest literary project of the kind, a com- 
plete and critical edition of all the Latin his- 
torians of Germany, from the fifth to the 
fifteenth century;" with Neander, ''the re- 
former and almost the creator of philosophic 
church history;" and with Hengstenberg, a 
resolute conservative in biblical criticism, 
''never so happy as when in the thickest of 
the fight against the leaders of rationalism." 
To have met with these men, and to have lis- 
tened to several of them, was of great value 
to such a man as this young American, in 
quest of all the sources of knowledge. But 
we have no space to employ in descriptions of 
his Berlin activity. 

After his university work in Berlin, and 
before his return to America, he spent three 
months in Paris, for the threefold purpose 
of increasing his knowledge of the French 
language, of becoming familiar with the 



52 Barnas Sears 

theological treasures of that city, and of en- 
couraging the few Baptists, especially the 
Rostans, who resided there. The months 
were crowded with activities, and were of no 
small benefit to him in later years. He 
made himself, as was his custom in other 
places, master of the topography of Paris, 
so that he was at home in every part of the 
city. He visited the greater schools and 
libraries and centers of light. He sought the 
Christians of his own faith and spoke to them 
words of cheer and counsel, such as only an 
American could utter. But the writer has no 
particulars to relate concerning the lectures 
which he heard, or the fruits which he culled 
from the trees of that great orchard. Yet 
he has heard Doctor Sears speak with lively 
interest of the months passed in Paris and of 
his success in learning to converse in French. 
In summing up the results of his residence 
in these three universities, Doctor Stearns 
remarks that "His life in Germany inflamed 
his zeal for the broadest culture possible, 
placed in his hands the best methods for 



A Christian Educator 53 

careful research and authoritative results, 
and empowered him to understand the 
sources of Christian knowledge and the limi- 
tations to which it is subject. He was not 
tainted with rationalism, so called, nor did 
he lose his faith in the faith of his fathers; 
his stability in the old paths was strengthened 
by the resistance of opposing forces. It was 
needful to know whereof he affirmed; and 
this necessity settled him the more solidly on 
the Rock which can never be shaken. . . . 
He was now nearly thirty-three years old, 
with health restored, and with mind and heart 
eager to express themselves; and when 
almost exactly at that age he resumed his 
labors at Hamilton, no teacher among the 
Baptists of this country was more thoroughly 
equipped for the position to which he had 
been called." 



CHAPTER IV 

PROFESSOR AND PRESIDENT AT NEWTON 
THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION 

1835-1848 

After his return from Europe, Professor 
Sears taught less than a full year at Hamil- 
ton. His reputation had greatly increased 
since he left the seminary at Newton, the 
residence of his wife and child at Brookline 
during his stay abroad had served to keep 
him before the minds of his Newton friends, 
and many of the people wished to see him 
again as a teacher where he had been three 
years a pupil. To the great disappointment 
of Hamilton, a change in his place of labor 
was soon effected. 

For in May, 1836, the Rev. Bamas Sears be- 
gan his labors in the Newton Theological In- 
stitution as Professor of Christian Theology. 

54 



A Christian Educator 55 

To this chair he had been elected "a short 
time since," as the record book of the faculty 
attests. The title, ' ' Christian Theology, ' ' was 
now given for the first time to a chair of in- 
struction in this seminary. It took the place 
of the chair of ''Biblical Theology," prob- 
ably because the latter designation had begun 
to be used in a more restricted sense, to sig- 
nify historical theology as taught in different 
books of Holy Scripture, rather than the- 
ology as derived by synthesis from the teach- 
ing of the whole Bible. Christian theology, 
as understood by Professor Sears, was to be 
drawn primarily from the Scriptures, yet 
their doctrines were to be logically arranged, 
and, as far as possible, rationally supported. 
Hence a teacher of this science ought to be 
familiar with philosophy, psychology, his- 
tory, natural science, and interpretation, 
although bound to give the first place in 
authority to the Holy Scriptures. Few 
young men at that time possessed ampler 
qualifications for the chair than Barnas Sears. 
Doctor Stearns has truly said : " He was in the 



56 Barnas Sears 

prime of life, in vigorous health, the posses- 
sor of a well-stocked library, his mind thor- 
oughly disciplined, and his acquisitions 
ample, his heart in full sympathy with the 
denomination he loved, and his purpose fixed 
to do for Newton, and what Newton repre- 
sented, all that Barnas Sears could do." His 
motto was: ''While religion should be our 
atmosphere, knowledge should be our food, 
and discipline our exercise." ' 

To estimate correctly what Doctor Sears 
accomplished during the twelve years of his 
service in Newton, it is necessary to bear in 
mind that, in addition to the regular work of 
his professorship, which he never slighted, 
he gave instruction in church history dur- 
ing a part of the time ; that for the last ten 
years he was president of the seminary; that 
he was editor of the Christian Review a num- 
ber of years; that he was the writer of 
numerous articles in that review, in the Bibli- 
otheca Sacra, and in the American Encyclo- 
pedia; that he was the author of four 
' From his diary. 



A Christian Educator 57 

volumes and the principal contributor to a 
fifth ; that he was for years an active member 
of the Executive Committee of the American 
Baptist Missionary Union; and that he was 
frequently preacher of ordination and other oc- 
casional sermons. During this period Doctor 
Sears worked rapidly and intensely, yet with 
great care and exactness. He believed that 
five hours of concentrated and vigorous effort 
were worth more in the attainment or ex- 
pression of knowledge than ten hours of less 
strenuous effort. So he worked with a will, 
with soul, mind, and strength, and the prod- 
uct of his work was abundant and precious. 

Five of his sixteen articles in the Christian 
Review are characterized as follows by Doctor 
Stearns: '' His review of Neander's 'Church 
History ' is a careful resume of church history 
and church historians. His review of Burgess 
* On Baptism ' is a classic. His review of Wig- 
ger's ' Pelagian Controversy ' is exhaustive. 
His article on ' China, its Geography and Re- 
ligion,' exhibits a familiarity with the land 
and the people satisfactory even to a native 



58 Barnas Sears 

scholar. His article on 'Augustine' is both 
learned and philosophical. No less valuable 
are his well-known articles in the Bihliotheca 
Sacra: 'Reformers before the Reformation,' 
'The Papacy and the Empire,' 'Redepen- 
ning's Life of Origen,' 'Historical Studies,' 
'The Religious Experience of Luther in the 
Cloister of Erfurt,' being not only good but 
authoritative reading." The books which he 
gave to the public during this period were: 
** Noehden's German Grammar," so recasting 
it and supplying its deficiencies that, for a long 
time, it was the best in the English language ; 
"The Ciceronian," explaining the German 
method of teaching Latin; " Select Treatises 
of Luther," in German, with notes, designed 
as a stimulus to the study of early German, for 
which he had great fondness; "The Life of 
Martin Luther," which he failed to complete 
according to the original plan ; and " Classical 
Studies: or. Ancient Literature," his collabor- 
ators being Professors B. B. Edwards of And- 
over, and C. C. Felt on of Harvard, the bulk 
of the book being his own contributions. 



A Christian Educator 59 

Doctor Sears was a most inspiring teacher 
of theology, and perhaps equally so of church 
history. He never used a text-book, and 
rarely or never brought more than the brief- 
est notes into the class-room. His supreme 
purpose was to lead his pupils to investigate 
and judge for themselves, to go out into the 
world of history and of experience, and espe- 
cially into the domain of Scripture for the 
data to be used in reasoning about questions 
of faith, and then to reason soberly and 
fairly, with the expectation of finding the 
ultimate grounds of their belief. He kept in 
mind the nature of their vocation, namely, 
that of being leaders of religious thought and 
conduct, and felt that to qualify them for 
their mission in the world they must be led 
first of all to build the structure of their own 
creed with their own hands. They must be 
incited to handle and weigh, to test and 
shape every stone which was placed in that 
edifice, lest there should be found at last, in 
some part of it, wood, hay, or stubble, to mar 
its strength or its beauty. He therefore 



6o Barnas Sears 

encouraged them to controvert his own views 
or those of their classmates, with vigor but 
courtesy, for the purpose of having the sub- 
ject in hand thoroughly canvassed by the 
very persons who were in all probability to 
discuss the same subject before the people. 
Moreover, he knew how to guide such a de- 
bate and make it profitable. He was an 
adept in the art of leading his pupils to an- 
ticipate problems sure to meet them in ac- 
tual life, and to find the solution of them. 
His courtesy and tact were so prompt and 
natural that his pupils often became, for the 
time being, to the great satisfaction of their 
master, earnest teachers of one another. 
That this method was deliberately chosen, 
appears from one of his reports to the trus- 
tees. "The leading objects of the teacher 
(meaning himself) have been: (i) To create a 
deep interest in the study; (2) to point out 
the extent and connections of the subject of 
inquiry, together with the method to be pur- 
sued and the means to be employed; (3) to 
have the results of such investigations and 




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A Christian Educator 6i 

reflections presented first by the student, 
then by the class, and lastly by the teacher, 
in free, but not polemic discussions; (4) to 
have the fundamental doctrines and collat- 
eral topics in any branch of study, the most 
important works, ancient and modern, on 
theology, the best chapters and treatises 
on particular topics made the subjects of 
analyses, critiques, translations, etc., to be 
read before the class, and followed by oral 
discussion. Neither the examination of 
text-books nor formal lectures have been 
adopted." 

Doctor Sears was a great lover of books and 
a fine judge of their value. What he read he 
mastered and could reproduce in a condensed 
form. He often referred in his class-room 
to the works of distinguished men, pointed 
out their particular excellences, and criti- 
cised in a keen but kindly spirit their faults. 
One left his presence eager to get hold of 
some of these books and to enjoy the light 
which they would pour on the subjects of 
present inquiry. 



62 Barnas Sears 

Doctor Sears came to his class-room full 
of the subject to be investigated. It was his 
habit to study with his coat off, so to speak, 
up to the time when he must start for the 
old Mansion House on the top of the hill, 
so that his theme had full possession of him 
when he came before his waiting pupils. In- 
stantly, after a few words of reverent prayer, 
he took his seat and was at once in the heart 
of his theme. The inward fire was aglow, 
and whether he began with an explanation, 
or a historical resume, or a question, it was 
evident from his manner that he was already 
grappling with the truth to be vindicated or 
the error to be exposed. No time was lost in 
getting at work. The field to be explored 
was rapidly outlined and made to appear so 
large and interesting that every moment of 
the hour was seen to be needed for the task 
of surveying it properly. Yet there was no 
hurry or rush or confusion in the look or 
utterance of the teacher. But the task was 
one that claimed instant and perfect atten- 
tion. If the field to be surveyed was large, 



A Christian Educator 63 

time must be taken to make the survey thor- 
ough. But any delay or beating about the 
bush was not to be thought of. The game 
was already in sight and the chase begun. 
Nevertheless, the interest was well sustained. 
It grew deeper and livelier until the hour 
was past. Students forgot the hardness of 
the benches on which they sat. The desk 
before them might be old and soiled and cut 
by many a daring knife, but they perceived 
it not. Their minds were with their teacher 
or the subject which he had laid before 
them. 

Yet their interest was not merely in- 
tellectual ; it was often deeply religious. 
Conscience and feeling were touched, and 
candidates for the gospel ministry felt them- 
selves constrained to devote their lives to a 
more fervent service of Christ. The writer 
will never forget the impression made upon 
him by Doctor Sears's luminous discussion of 
the Divine Perfections, or by one of his ablest 
occasional sermons, having for its theme, 
"The Love of God." His treatment of the 



64 Barnas Sears 

profoundest verities of religion was singu- 
larly lucid and convincing. 

The theology taught by Doctor Sears was 
biblical in its source and evangelical in its 
tone. It was clear to those who sat at his 
feet that he was not in search of new opinions 
because they were new, or of old opinions 
because they were old, but rather of the 
truth, whether new or old. But, though his 
theology was biblical in its source, he did not 
shut his eyes to the lessons of nature. While 
he believed in Jesus Christ, as the highest and 
perfect revelation of God the Father, his 
mind was evermore hospitable to truth from 
any source. He was indeed a Baptist from 
conviction, but he was at the same time 
large-minded and large-hearted towards men 
of other creeds ; and always ready to defend 
their right to the same ''liberty of soul" 
which he claimed for himself. His relations 
with men of other churches were friendly 
and his recognition of their excellence 
prompt. When listening to his class-room 
instructions, or observing his pleasure in 



A Christian Educator 65 

a fair debate between students on a mooted 
question, one was led to feel instinctively 
that his confidence in truth was steadfast, 
and his desire to have freedom for all in 
search of it was most sincere. He was de- 
lighted to have those who were to be pub- 
lic teachers of religion look at all sides of a 
problem before claiming to have solved it. 
The following picture of a first hour in his 
class-room is from the pen of his loving pupil, 
Doctor Oakman S. Stearns. Nothing could 
be truer to fact. 

''Drawing from personal recollections, let 
me invite you to accompany me to the famil- 
iar and homely class-room in the southeast 
corner of the old Mansion House. There is 
a class of twelve scattered about the room, 
sitting before crude benches, with pen, ink, 
and note-books, waiting for the presence of 
him of whom they have heard much, but of 
whom they know little. The door opens. 
A tall, dignified, white-haired man enters and 
quietly takes his seat. Other teachers are 
accustomed to stand, but he sits. He sits 



66 Barnas Sears 

before a rusty-looking, green-covered table, 
draws from his pocket a few pieces of paper 
on which something seems to be written, lays 
them down, and then rises and says, 'Let us 
pray.' You know him to be your teacher, 
but before that brief prayer closes, you feel 
him to be your brother and your friend. His 
simplicity of manner, his freedom from as- 
sumption, his exemption from any impres- 
sion that what he is about to say will be 
oracular, though full to the brim with the 
purpose of the hour, in form, in bearing, in 
the entire make-up of the man, the first and 
the strongest conviction you receive is frater- 
nal sympathy. Such a man, you soliloquize 
. . . will not ask that his ipse dixit 
shall be the final utterance concerning God's 
thoughts. He doubtless knows more than I 
and will probably tell me much that I do not 
know, but he is seeking to ascend the heights 
and descend the depths of God in nature, 
God in man, and God in revelation ; and all 
he will require is to search with him for the 
solid stepping-stones. Such was the first 



A Christian Educator 67 

impression Professor Sears made upon me. 
And I think a like impression was received 
by all those students who studied with him." 
Doctor Stearns then proceeds to character- 
ize his teaching as (i) comprehensive, (2) 
scriptural, (3) incisive and suggestive, (4) 
timely. " Repeatedly he would say, ' Young 
gentlemen, it is easy to destroy, not so easy 
to rebuild. If you remove the old land- 
marks you must supply their place. An oft- 
quoted text may be irrelevant, but there are 
enough that are relevant.' " 

Among the highly valued treasures of the 
writer is a small note-book of Doctor Sears, 
a gift from him as a pignus amiciticB to one 
who had been called to the chair which Doc- 
tor Sears himself had so ably filled. A few 
paragraphs from this manuscript treasure 
will perhaps be welcome to the reader. These 
paragraphs are parts of a mere outline, a dry 
epitome, of what the great teacher expanded 
by way of ''Introduction" to his course in 
theology. 



68 Barnas Sears 

" Theology is the Science of ReHgion. 
"Religion 

"We are here concerned only with what 
truly appertains to the Christian religion. 
Whatever true elements of religion may 
exist in paganism, and there are many, are 
embraced in Christianity. 

** Religion, to be genuine, must be founded 
upon objective truth; and, to be vital, must 
have a subjective existence. Without the 
former, it would be nothing but superstition ; 
without the latter, nothing but a knowledge 
that is vain. 

"Religion is not knowledge, is not feeling, 
is not action ; it is all these combined, — it is 
spiritual life. Love, though the most vital 
part of religion, is but a part. A feeling of 
dependence on God, as defined by Schleier- 
macher, is too vague a representation. Still 
more unsatisfactory is the Hegelian defini- 
tion, a tendency to the infinite. God dwell- 
ing in the soul — the view of Hengstenberg — 
is substituting the cause for the effect. Modus 



A Christian Educator 69 

cognoscendi et colendi Deum, makes religion an 
aggregate without unity. 

*' Whether rehgion has its seat primarily in 
the understanding or in the affections (moral 
suasion, the taste system), whether it is 
essentially yvmffi? or Ttiarii (Origen, and his 
opponents, Augustine says, Fides prcBcedit 
intellectui) , a habitus theoreticus or a habitus 
practicus (the Scholastics, the Mystics), has 
been a question of much controversy. The 
decision of this question must greatly affect 
the mode of preaching and of all religious 
instruction. 

*' If we analyze religion and find it to con- 
sist of knowledge, feeling and action, follow- 
ing, too, in this order, it will be evident that 
action, being an effect of the two former, 
though essential as evidence, cannot be the 
radical part. Knowledge, again, though an 
indispensable condition, is merely a necessary 
antecedent (and so is life, reason, etc.), and 
not of itself a producing cause of right affec- 
tions. Take away the middle link, and there 
is nothing of religion left. A holy inclination 



70 Barnas Sears 

throws back upon the understanding a clearer 
light, and here spiritual knowledge com- 
mences and sets the whole machinery of re- 
ligion in operation. 

"It may be true that these spiritual per- 
ceptions are the acts of the understanding, 
the affections having no perceptive faculty, 
but if unholy affections necessarily prevent 
these moral perceptions, and holy affections 
necessarily produce them, then these affec- 
tions are the spiritual part, notwithstanding 
they act only through the medium of the 
intellect. 

''It has been said that religion resides ex- 
clusively in the will; that this is the only 
moral faculty, the only one whose action de- 
pends entirely upon ourselves, and, of course, 
the only one for which we are accountable. 
But it cannot be shown that the will has any 
direct power over the affections, whereas it is 
easy to show that the affections govern the 
will. If this can be shown in any common 
exercises of the mind, it will establish their 
order as cause and effect in religious exer- 



A Christian Educator 71 

cises. Love, for example, is not the result 
of volition, but springs from the adaptedness 
of the object to the character of the individ- 
ual. Now, love — the essence of religion — is 
not itself sl right state of the will, though pro- 
ducing it. All the powers must be subject to 
religious influence. The intellect must first 
apprehend certain truths (few and simple) as 
a prerequisite to regeneration. In connec- 
tion with that (by some unknown law of 
fitness) the Holy Spirit must change the in- 
clination. This governs the will, and every- 
thing else follows spontaneously. Of this, 
more under the head. Regeneration. 

''Christianity is partly an assemblage of 
facts, and partly a system of principles. 
Neither can be laid aside without destroying 
it as a whole. The one relates to it as an 
actual provision for restoring fallen men ; the 
other as containing immutable principles of 
truth, which can exist alone for such as have 
never sinned. Strauss denies the facts ; and 
many have but a faint perception of the 
principles of Christianity. 



72 Barnas Sears 

''Theology, which related first to the Di- 
vine Nature, was in the Middle Ages extended 
to all divine things — Xoyo^ rov deov or rov 
dsiov. Its object is to give an exact and at 
the same time comprehensive view of all the 
doctrines of the Bible. 

''(i) Popular and poetical language is to 
be translated, so far as may be, into the exact 
language of science. Hence it presupposes 
an exegetical training. Some subjects can 
be so well understood by us, as to enable us 
to determine with clearness how language 
must be understood ; but on subjects beyond 
our comprehension a difficulty in interpreting 
language will always remain. 

" (2) Subjects must be analyzed philo- 
sophically, so far as it is in our power to do it. 
Otherwise, their nature, their difference or 
agreement with others cannot be under- 
stood. E. g., repentance, faith, love, regen- 
eration, sanctification. 

'' (3) The relations of doctrines to each 
other must be so far ascertained as to pre- 
serve their harmony. The uncertain must 



A Christian Educator 73 

conform to the certain ; our inferences must 
not set aside divine testimony. Express and 
clear declarations of Scripture, and simple 
and necessary inferences, take the prece- 
dence of philosophical speculation and long 
concatenations of reasoning. Two doctrines 
fully established by independent evidence, 
must be allowed to stand, even when we can- 
not perceive the connection, which is most 
likely to occur on subjects which lie out of 
the sphere of human knowledge. 

"The demands of theology, as a science, 
are exegetical and logical, the former fur- 
nishing the material, the latter the instru- 
ment. 

" The relation of philosophy, or reason, to 
theology is not perfectly simple. As philos- 
ophy is a very broad term, we must make 
many distinctions, (i) Science cannot be 
overruled by theology. (2) Necessary con- 
sequences of established principles cannot be 
disregarded. (3) Reason is a guide in those 
lower matters which are presupposed by the 
Scriptures. (4) Speculation on the highest 



74 Barnas Sears 

questions respecting God and the invisible 
world can never be the basis of a sound the- 
ology. (5) Those essential principles which 
are common to all systems of philosophy 
must be admitted by the theologian. 

** Theology borders on mental philosophy 
as it does on many sciences, but it does not 
include any of them. These relations are to 
be pointed out in the discussion of particular 
topics and everything referred to its proper 
place. 

" The relation of Christian theology to nat- 
ural theology is that of a certain, authorita- 
tive, and complete system to that of a vague, 
insufficient, and imperfect one. The latter is 
either presupposed by the former, or included 
in it. Such a system of pure natural the- 
ology never existed. 

''Its relation to Christian Ethics is that of 
cause and effect ; and they cannot be entirely 
separated. When, for the sake of conven- 
ience, they are separated, the latter must 
repeat so much of the former as to lay a 
foundation for itself. If, as in this country 



A Christian Educator 75 

and England, moral philosophy is made a 
distinct science not including the Christian 
system, then what is peculiar to Christian 
ethics can be introduced into theology in con- 
nection with the Christian virtues, the rest 
(moral philosophy) being presupposed." 



CHAPTER V 

SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD 
OF EDUCATION 

1848-1855 

During his connection with Newton, Pro- 
fessor Sears received the honorary degree of 
Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College 
(1841). After twelve years of arduous 
service he was elected Secretary of the Mas- 
sachusetts Board of Education, and resigned 
his place in Newton to be the successor of 
Horace Mann in a post which few men were 
supposed able to fill. It will be unnecessary to 
attempt any elaborate description of his work 
in the position which he occupied so honor- 
ably and usefully for the next seven years. 
Among his successors in that office was the 
Honorable George S. Boutwell, who thus 
spoke of the task achieved by Doctor Sears 
as Secretary of the Board of Education : 

76 



A Christian Educator 77 

''When the intellectual powers of Doctor 
Sears were in their fullness, when his scholar- 
ship was recognized generally by learned men 
and by universities, when his capacity for 
useful public service had been tested and 
justified by experience, he accepted the office 
of Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 
Education. His only predecessor was Hor- 
ace Mann. That eminent leader of public 
opinion, and reformer both of the methods 
and of the result of education, had impressed 
his ideas upon the people and woven his 
policy into the institutions of the State. But 
his career had been a career of controversy, 
in which indeed he had triumphed. But 
there lingered in the minds of many a hope 
that the changes which he had introduced 
and the reforms which he had established 
would, at no distant day, be overthrown. 
The State, in Doctor Sears, secured an ex- 
ponent and advocate and a most temperate 
defender of the reforms which Mr. Mann had 
introduced. There was no step backward, 
but he presented alway§ the genial and 



7S Barnas Sears 

attractive side of every subject to the pub- 
lic. In the Normal Schools, in the Teachers' 
Institutes, and in the County Associations, he 
brought into the public service eminent men 
and distinguished teachers, of whom I may 
mention President Felton, Professor Agassiz, 
Professor Guyot, Professor Russell, Lowell 
Mason, and George B. Emerson; and thus 
were the youth and the children of the State 
brought under the influence of persons who 
gave them high ideas of life and the best 
practical illustrations of the art of teaching. 
What in Mr. Mann's time had been regarded 
by many as experimental, became in Doctor 
Sears 's time the established and recognized 
policy of the State. Old controversies were 
silenced. Our system of public education, 
schools for all the people, sustained by all the 
people, was placed upon a foundation as im- 
movable as the foundation of the State itself. 
*'It would be too much, perhaps, to say 
that all these great changes were due to Doc- 
tor Sears alone, but I cannot doubt that to 
his urbanity, to his earnestness, to his intelli- 




THE REV. BARNAS SEARS, D.D., ABOUT 1850 
(While Secretary of Mass. Board of Education) 



A Christian Educator 79 

gent activity, the State was largely indebted 
for the establishment of a new order of 
things in our system of public instruction. 
It cannot be assumed that Doctor Sears 
could have instituted the reforms or carried 
out the contest which made the administra- 
tion of Mr. Mann conspicuous, but it would 
be equally improper to assume that even Mr. 
Mann himself could have established per- 
manently the reforms which he instituted, or 
have made fixed in the policy of the State 
the changes which he had advocated. These 
two co-workers placed the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts under the greatest obligation. 
That old, imperfect system of education was 
set aside and a new and better one placed in 
its stead. The change was for Massachu- 
setts, and the example was for the whole 
country. And if, in the richness of these 
thirty years, other communities have at- 
tained such excellence in their system of 
education as banishes every thought of 
the claim of superiority on our part, then 
they, equally with ourselves, owe a debt 



8o Barnas Sears 

to the memory of Horace Mann and Barnas 

Sears." 

This may be accepted as a just estimate of 
the work of Doctor Sears as Secretary of the 
Massachusetts Board of Education from 1848 
to 1855. It refers to the principal difficul- 
ties of his task and to some of the elements of 
his power to accomplish it. Perhaps there 
was no man in the State who could have 
filled more ably than himself the place to 
which he was called. For his interest in public 
schools was profound and his knowledge of 
systems and methods of education unsur- 
passed. At the same time he was in accord 
with his predecessor and with the Board in 
respect to the methods to be employed as 
well as to the ideals to be sought in general 
education. The success of his many Teachers* 
Institutes was marked and undeniable; and 
their success was due even more to his in- 
spiring presence and generalship than to the 
great ability of the men whom he called to 
his assistance. There was alertness and 
animation and good cheer wherever he pre- 



* A Christian Educator 8i 

sided, and teachers returned to their calHng 
with zeal enkindled for nobler service after a 
week with him and his helpers. It is hard 
to overrate the value of personal intercourse 
with such an educator. In this respect he 
was probably superior to Horace Mann; 
more genial, more stimulating, at least in 
tone and manner, and more winsome ; a great 
leader with an appreciative and loving spirit, 
pointing out fearlessly ways of possible ad- 
vance, while recognizing generously every- 
thing strong or beautiful in current methods 
or workers. In this direction may be seen 
his unrivaled power. This made him an 
educator of educators. 

A few excerpts from his Annual Reports 
will be welcome to every intelligent reader, 
even though they are too brief to afford a 
clear view of the significance of the complete 
documents. In his Report for the year 1850 
he treats, among other things, of the Teach- 
ers' Institutes held during the previous year. 
"The experience of the present year goes to 
confirm that of past years, that no means 



82 Barnas Sears 

employed by the State for the improvement 
of the schools have an immediate efficiency 
equal to that of the Institutes. They per- 
form the office of light-armed troops, and by 
the celerity of their movements accomplish 
much that lies beyond the reach of the Nor- 
mal Schools. ... By reducing the time 
from ten days to six, I am able to take the 
supervision of them all, without any inter- 
ruption, and to procure instructors of a high 
order and retain them without change to the 
end. A larger number of teachers, likewise, 
can afford the time and the expense necessary 
to attend. . . . The object is to give the 
whole body of teachers a new impulse to 
improvement; to direct their attention to 
the importance of ascertaining the best 
methods of instruction ; to lead them, through 
the influence of eminent and experienced 
teachers, to task their own invention, judg- 
ment, and skill to the utmost for perfecting 
themselves in the art of teaching. . . 
The tone and spirit of an Institute is there- 
fore a matter of much greater moment than 



A Christian Educator S^ 

the amount of time given to a mere review 
of studies." 

In the Report for 185 5, having set forth the 
principal arguments for and against having 
any reHgious teaching in pubHc schools, he 
said: ** Considerations of this nature have 
done much to unite the great bulk of the 
community on the common ground of a 
Christian but unsectarian education for all 
the Commonwealth. It has been found, 
upon experiment, that religion can be intro- 
duced into the schools, without polemical 
theology; that the Christian temper and 
spirit can be exhibited and inculcated, with- 
out stirring the bitter waters of strife; and 
that instruction in religion and religious doc- 
trines can be added to any extent, at home 
or elsewhere, through some one or more of 
the numerous provisions which are made for 
all who desire that instruction." Referring 
to past controversies, he says : '' But when the 
battle has been fairly fought out and the vic- 
tory won, the change is irrevocable. Spec- 
tres will not make their appearance after the 



84 Barnas Sears 

day has dawned. All that has here been said 
is veritable history. The early friends of the 
Massachusetts movement in education have 
not forgotten it. Of these struggles, enough 
remains in some few parts of the State to 
render intelligible descriptions given of pre- 
vious conditions of things, somewhat as cer- 
tain living animals in some parts of the world, 
serve to illustrate the fossil remains of former 
geological periods. But, in general, a great 
change has come over the Commonwealth in 
this respect, which is attributable to a variety 
of causes. The seed sown at a previous pe- 
riod is producing its harvest now. The ideas 
which then belonged to the few have become 
the property of the many. The smaller num- 
ber, with the right on their side, have proved 
stronger, in the end, than the greater number 
without it. But, after making due allow- 
ance for all these and similar considerations, 
the principal cause, if not of the change itself, 
at least of the rapidity with which it has been 
effected, is to be sought in the policy of the 
Board in carrying their views, and those of 



A Christian Educator 85 

the Legislature, to the very doors of the 
people, by the living voice of men appointed 
for the purpose. . . . The effect of a plan 
of operations so carefully laid, and so well 
executed, has been most gratifying. Watch- 
ful observers have not failed to perceive that 
to it we are mainly indebted for the newly- 
awakened interest and activity manifested in 
places that were slumbering in indifference 
and inactivity but a few years ago, and for 
that general tide of enlightened public senti- 
ment on education which is now seen flowing 
over nearly every portion of the Common- 
wealth.'' 

In his Report for 1856, Doctor Sears dis- 
cusses with great thoroughness the obstacles 
to perfect success in public-school education ; 
such as the indulgence of unreasonable hopes ; 
the danger of overlooking the Hmitations of 
the teacher's power, limitations in himself and 
in the fact that only a part of education belongs 
to the school-room; in the presence of a for- 
eign race of men ; in their demorahzing influ- 
ence; in the rush of young people from the 



86 Barnas Sears 

country into the city; in the low tone of 
morals often prevalent ; and in the equivocal 
character of much of the reading and of the 
public amusements in which the children of 
the present age share with others. He then 
suggests antidotes to the evils described. 
Near the close of this very able report, he 
says : '' A child ought to be taught to regulate 
his actions by the will of God. In one respect 
the teacher and pupil ought to stand on a 
level with each other, both bowing to the will 
of their Maker, and performing their respec- 
tive duties to each other out of regard to His 
authority. A school should be led to view 
itself as under the inspection of an All-seeing 
Witness, and each member to hold himself 
accountable to Him for the spirit and charac- 
ter of his deportment. Let these compre- 
hensive principles be kept before the mind, 
and they will have a weight of authority 
which every one will feel. There will be a 
sense of obligation lying back of the teacher's 
rules, making it the easier for him to require 
of pupils the performance of their duties from 



A Christian Educator 87 

the fact that both he and they together are 
accountable to a higher being. In this way 
the moral natures of children are called into 
action. The conscience has its part to act. 
A line is dropped which sounds the heart to 
its lowest depths. Character thus formed 
has strength and firmness. Its roots strike 
deep and spread in every direction, giving a 
vigorous growth to its trunk and waving 
branches, and holding them firmly in their 
true position." 

The particular objects which Doctor Sears 
sought to accomplish were three : (i) A change 
in the laws of the Commonwealth by which 
the control of common schools should be put 
into the hands of towns, instead of being left 
in the hands of small districts that contrib- 
uted a part of the expense, selected teachers, 
and fixed the amount of schooling for their 
children. The town-system puts all this in 
the hands of a suitable board of committee- 
men appointed by the whole town, while 
all charges are paid by the town or State. 
(2) An improvement in the qualifications of 



88 Barnas Sears 

teachers for their work. To effect this, Nor- 
mal Schools were supported by the State, and 
the Secretary of the Board of Education was 
charged with the duty of making them as 
efficient as possible. In this part of his work, 
Doctor Sears felt a deep interest and was suc- 
cessful. (3) A further improvement of ex- 
perienced teachers by means of yearly 
Institutes in different parts of the State. 
These Institutes aimed to quicken the zeal 
and enlarge the knowledge of teachers. 
Doctor Sears made it a point to have able 
and progressive lecturers associated with 
himself in the conduct of these Institutes, 
and he also, by his own appeals, sought to 
make teachers magnify their calling and seek 
with supreme endeavor the building up of 
moral character in their pupils. The end of 
education was, in his judgment, two-fold : the 
formation of character and the attainment of 
power to serve mankind. These objects he 
\sought with very great enthusiasm, discre- 
tion, and success. The field was large, the 
task was difficult, and the results cheering. 



A Christian Educator 89 

Some of his pupils in theology have ex- 
pressed their regret that he published so few 
books, that the amount of his writing in 
official correspondence and annual reports 
consumed so much of his time that he had 
none left for book-making. But the tablets 
on which he wrote during many of his busy 
years were the souls of young men and women 
who were in turn transmitting his influence 
to the souls of children in the Common- 
wealth. And it is doubtful whether he could 
have reached a greater number with his 
beneficent impulses in any other way. Vig- 
orous as was his pen, and clear as were the 
thoughts expressed by it, his living presence 
and voice were more powerful than his words 
on the printed page. No doubt he believed 
this. No doubt he remembered the example 
of Socrates, and of the divine Man who was 
a far greater teacher than the Grecian sage. 
Indeed, a true man is almost always greater 
than his books. To hear and to see him at 
close range are better than to read his choic- 
est thoughts in print. If there are exceptions 



90 Barnas Sears 

to this rule, it must be in cases where one 
is slow of speech or too diffident to be his 
true self in the presence of others. Horace 
Mann was a specially powerful writer, and 
may, perhaps, have been one of the few who 
can move men as deeply by writing as by 
speaking, even though his presence arrested 
attention and his self-respect overcame diffi- 
dence. But Doctor Sears could master a 
subject without the use of a pen. His un- 
written speech was equal in pith and sub- 
stance to that which was written. And 
gladly as all of us would have welcomed a 
history of the Lutheran Reformation, or of 
the German Anabaptists, from his pen, it is 
by no means certain that he could have pre- 
pared such a work without neglecting more 
useful labors. Providence beckoned, and he 
followed, as should always be the case. 



CHAPTER VI 

PRESIDENCY OF BROWN UNIVERSITY 
1855-1867 

Doctor Sears enjoyed his relation to the 
State, to the Board of Education, and to the 
teachers of Massachusetts. He thought of 
leaving his post as Secretary only when the 
Presidency of Brown University was offered 
him. The writer recalls with distinctness a 
conversation on this matter. Doctor Sears 
had been assured that, with his own consent, 
his name would be laid before the corpora- 
tion as a candidate for the office of president, 
and that, if so, he would be without doubt 
elected. He was now balancing in his mind 
the opportunities for usefulness in the two 
positions, and, though personal considera- 
tions appeared to be wholly secondary, he 
took occasion to express very strongly the 

91 



92 Barnas Sears 

satisfaction which he had had in his work for 
education in the Old Bay State, and the re- 
gret he would feel at sundering his connec- 
tion with his Massachusetts friends and 
co-laborers. Nevertheless, the opening at 
Providence seemed to him a call from God 
to serve the cause of Christian education in 
a different sphere, and he was making up his 
mind to obey that call. With singular clear- 
ness he summarized the reasons for abiding 
at his post in Massachusetts, and, over 
against these, the reasons for going to Provi- 
dence and putting his matured strength into 
the lives of young men who were qualifying 
themselves for public service. He was in the 
midst of his days, — fifty-three years of age, — 
and as full of hope and enthusiasm as he was 
twenty years before. There was evidently 
in his heart a deep longing to be at work 
directly for young men. And so, as I clearly 
perceived, the balances of his judgment in- 
clined towards the new field. He had been 
my teacher or neighbor and friend in Newton 
Center ten years, and it was not in my power 



A Christian Educator 93 

to think of his removal to another State with- 
out regret; but, as usual, his statement of 
the case brought my judgment into accord 
with his own, and I was ready to bid him 
God-speed as he prepared to leave his de- 
lightful home in Newton Center for the 
President's house on College Street, Provi- 
dence. 

But what was his success in the new sta- 
tion? How did he prosper in dealing with 
undergraduates and with the overseers of 
this ancient school? In answer to a note of 
inquiry, the following letter from Doctor 
Albert Harkness was received: 

" Providence, Sept. 28, 1901. 

** My Dear Doctor Hovey: 

'' Your letter came during my absence from 
the city, and it has followed me from place 
to place until I fear my answer can be of no 
use to you. 

"I assume that you wish only a few gen- 
eral hints that may aid you in completing 
your estimate of Doctor Sears. You are 



94 Barnas Sears 

doubtless aware that he came very near 
being my ideal of a college president. He 
administered the affairs of Brown Univer- 
sity according to the charter, and, as I be- 
lieve, faithfully and wisely. He was a ripe 
scholar and a Christian gentleman, and by 
his personal character and attainments ex- 
erted a powerful influence for good, not only 
upon the students, but also upon the profes- 
sors. We all saw that he was deeply inter- 
ested in the College, and that he gave his 
best thought and his most earnest endeavors 
to its welfare. He was the best President to 
work with that I have ever had the good for- 
tune to know. He encouraged all depart- 
ments while he left all the professors free to 
adopt methods suited to their tastes and 
genius, believing that thus the best results 
would be reached. 

" Unfortunately the administration of Doc- 
tor Sears covered the period of our Civil War, 
when it was, of course, impossible to do much 
for the enlargement of the College. But 
Doctor Sears was not only a wise and efficient 




THE REV. BARNAS SEARS, D.D., ABOUT 1861 
(At Brown University as President) 



A Christian Educator 95 

president, but an accomplished and faithful 
professor. He was an inspiring teacher, and 
he taught the students to think for them- 
selves. If these hasty lines can be of any 
service to you, I shall be very glad. Should 
you wish anything more, kindly inform me. 
I am glad, dear Doctor Hovey, that you have 
undertaken this pleasant task, as I know you 
understand and appreciate the character and 
worth of Doctor Sears, whose memory I 
cherish with grateful affection. 

"With kind regards and best wishes for 
you and yours, I am as ever your friend, 

"Albert Harkness.'* 

To this discriminating letter may be 
added a few paragraphs from the remarks of 
Professor John L. Lincoln, at the funeral of 
Doctor Sears in Brookline, Mass. : 

"It is just twenty-five years this summer 
since Doctor Sears was called to the presi- 
dency of the University, an office made vacant 
by the unexpected resignation of the late 
Doctor Way land. Just thirty years had 



96 Barnas Sears 

passed away since Doctor Sears had left the 
college as a student. . . . He was, then, just 
past fifty years of age, and so was in the full 
vigor of his manhood, in the full maturity of 
all his powers — so fine in themselves and so 
well developed by long study and discipline, 
in the ripeness of his fame as an educator and 
as a leader in education. But all these 
resources of his, which were so ample, he 
needed, and all these powers of his he needed, 
at their greatest and their best, and none 
felt it more than himself; for he was called 
to fill the post which had been held for 
twenty-five years by Doctor Wayland, so hon- 
ored for his character and for his standing as 
an educator second, perhaps, to none in our 
whole country. But he was called to the 
place, as some of you know, by the unani- 
mous choice of the guardians of the college, 
who felt more deeply than anybody else 
could feel the great void in the college 
which he was called to fill. But that unan- 
imity of choice, so cordially responded to by 
the faculty, and by the graduates and friends 



A Christian Educator 97 

of the college, seemed a bright augury of the 
success of his administration. And how well 
did the issue answer to that bright augury! 
How well, how nobly he achieved that task 
which was then devolved upon him ! I think 
we must all see — ^those of us most conversant 
with the affairs of the college can certainly 
see — ^that he administered the great trusts 
confided to him with an enthusiastic devo- 
tion to religion, education, and learning 
which had been so dear to the founders of 
the college and to its subsequent benefactors 
and friends, with a true and loyal love to the 
place of his education, and with the sense of 
duty and responsibility which belonged to 
him then and always as a Christian man. I 
remember . . . difficulties which he had 
to encounter, trials which he had to endure, 
incident to a post of such complex relations 
and duties, but he surmounted or passed 
through them all with patience and skill. 

**Let me say a word as I recall his rela- 
tions to the college circle, to his undergradu- 
ate pupils. I think I may say that of all who 



98 Barnas Sears 

have administered the affairs of the college in 
the place of chief and guide, no one was more 
highly esteemed, and certainly no one was 
more truly loved, by all the pupils than 
President Sears. I well remember how he 
gained their admiration by the ample stores 
of knowledge which he had at such ready 
command, and which he made so accessible 
to them for their assistance and their im- 
provement; how he impressed them with 
perfect respect for his love of truth and en- 
thusiastic pursuit of it, for the habits of per- 
sonal investigation which he formed in them, 
and for the reverence which he inspired in 
them for true wisdom and that fear of God 
which is the beginning of wisdom, with faith 
in Christ as the Redeemer of the world. I 
am sure that all his pupils . . . were im- 
pressed by the soundness of his judgment 
and the vigor of his devotion. . . . But I 
think that he bound them to him most of all 
by personal, by filial ties of affection that 
were firm as steel and precious as gold. . . . 
By the love for them which shone out from 



A Christian Educator 99 

all his conduct . . . there ever went forth 
a virtue which had in it for them, and for 
them all, everything beloved and blessed 
and pure. ... I spoke of the coming of 
Doctor Sears to our college, full as it was with 
life and with promise. . . . But I remem- 
ber also his departure, after those twelve 
years of service, when that promise had been 
proudly and amply fulfilled, and we felt what 
a loss it was that we had sustained — a loss 
that could hardly be made good to us. Yet 
there was something of consolation in the 
confidence we had in the high esteem enter- 
tained for him without the walls of the col- 
lege, since he was judged by the Trustees of 
the Peabody Fund to be the man best of all 
fitted to administer that grand trust for a 
great educational enterprise." 

It will also be in place to hear the testi- 
mony of one or two who were under his in- 
struction in Brown University: 

** I was under Doctor Sears's instruction in 
my senior year (1860-1)," writes Doctor Bur- 
rage. ' ' The studies were philosophy , the history 
L.ofC. 



loo Barnas Sears 

of philosophy, and the evidences of Christian- 
ity. In the first two Doctor Sears used 
text-books, viz.. Haven's *' Intellectual Phi- 
losophy" and Schwegler's " History of Philos- 
ophy." Not much time, however, was given 
to the recitations of the text of the lesson. A 
large part of the hour was occupied by Doctor 
Sears himself in explanation and illustration of 
the text. The wealth of his learning impressed 
us all. His mind was a great storehouse 
from which he drew abundantly. Doubt- 
less the average college student received in 
Doctor Sears's recitation room little beyond 
what is derived from a noble personality. I 
cannot but believe, however, that to sit in 
the presence of such a man an hour a day, 
four days in a week, for a college year, means 
much to any student. A bright scholar, 
prepared by aptitude and study to profit by 
the instruction of Doctor Sears, found not 
only enjoyment in his classes, but great in- 
tellectual stimulus. The instruction in the 
evidences of Christianity was by lectures, and 
here, as it seemed to me. Doctor Sears was at 



A Christian Educator loi 

his best. The lectures were dictated, and I 
have often had occasion to consult them since 
my college days. Here also he gave us much 
more than the text of his lectures. He was 
thoroughly familiar with what the best 
scholars in Europe had said and were saying 
in reference to Christianity ; and his aim was 
to make us also familiar with it. My obliga- 
tions to Doctor Sears at the time I gratefully 
acknowledged, and I shall be grateful to him 
as long as I live. 

''In the first part of my senior year the 
Civil War was approaching, and my college 
days ended in the beginnings of the great 
conflict. With lessons concerning philosophy 
and religion, Doctor Sears mingled many a 
lesson of patriotism and duty. As young 
men we were made to feel that we were living 
in a great crisis of the nation's history, when 
the requirements of patriotism and duty 
should be conscientiously considered. If we 
should have a part in the war, we knew we 
would have Doctor Sears's approval and 
benediction. H. S. Burrage." 



I02 Barnas Sears 

" Dear Doctor Hovey, — I enclose Doctor 
Barrage's reminiscences of President Sears, 
and add a few words of my own. Our class, 
that of '66, pursued nearly the same studies 
as Doctor Burrage's class, with the addition 
of German; but with us he made no use of 
text-books, except in grammar. In philos- 
ophy and related subjects he dictated to us 
lectures he had himself prepared. He 
seemed to care very little, however, about 
our remembering even the substance of them. 
Some professors appreciate a student's efforts 
in the exact proportion in which their own 
words are reproduced. If Doctor Sears ever 
took any note of a student's daily work, — 
and we could never perceive that he did, — 
he measured us by an entirely different 
standard. A parrot-like repetition of his lec- 
tures would have given him but little pleas- 
ure. On one occasion he remarked: */ do 
not care to have you remember what I say; I 
am simply anxious to teach you how to think. 
If you learn that, you may burn my lectures if 
you will.' With such a teacher I can imag- 



* A Christian Educator 103 

ine some students would not be over-well 
pleased. Those who sought the class-room 
in order to be thoroughly drilled-into some 
definite scheme of philosophy, probably went 
away from Doctor Sears, grumbling that 
they had gotten nothing. But some of us 
certainly found him the most inspiring of 
college teachers. He awakened and stimu- 
lated us by his own example of noble think- 
ing. At the same time it has always seemed 
to me that Doctor Sears was at his best in 
those lines of study that appealed to his lit- 
erary tastes. It was when he talked of art 
and literature and life that he revealed most 
clearly his own lofty ideals and pure and 
noble tastes. My remembrance of him as a 
teacher of German literature brings back 
hours of keenest enjoyment. His success in 
this line leads me to believe that he would 
have been a beau-ideal teacher of the classics, 
and to wish that I might have had the privi- 
lege of reading Homer or Plato under his 
guidance. 

*' In his personal relation with the students 



I04 Barnas Sears 

he was most successful in winning their deep- 
est and most loyal attachment. I don't be- 
lieve a student in Brown in my days could 
have been insolent to Doctor Sears. If one 
had dared to be, the entire college would have 
frowned on the offender. I have heard men 
who were under Doctor Sears complain since 
leaving college of something lacking as a 
teacher in him, but in my college days I 
never heard a word from any source that did 
not express the highest appreciation both of 
his character and attainments. In my mem- 
ory he stands among the teachers of my 
youth, equalled by few, surpassed by none. 

''J. B. GOUGH PiDGE.'* 

The Rev. Albert H. Plumb, D.D., of Rox- 
bury, Massachusetts, writes in the following 
strain : 

" I went to Providence during a six-weeks' 
spring vacation at Andover Seminary, and 
took notes of Doctor Sears's lectures on Chris- 
tian Evidences and of his remarks on Doc- 
tor Wayland's "Moral Philosophy," in 1856. 



A Christian Educator 105 

He impressed me as a very learned man, 
widely read, and profound in his philosophi- 
cal thinking, wonderfully rich, too, in his 
illustrative comments and practical applica- 
tions of principles in the formation of correct 
judgments and in the guidance of conduct. 
I have found stimulus as well as instruction 
whenever I have taken down my notes of his 
teaching. His replies to the questions and 
objections of students showed tact and power. 
*' In the spring of 1857 I was in Providence 
again, and I remember distinctly a remark- 
able scene in the First Baptist Church. The 
church was filled at one of those memorable 
men's prayer meetings, perhaps at the noon 
hour on week days, which characterized the 
great revivals through the country that year. 
Doctor Sears arose, evidently much moved, 
and, as I recall his statements, said that he 
had a little time previous written to his son 
in business in New York, telling him of the 
deep religious interest, and urging him to 
leave his business and come on to Providence 
to attend the meetings and seek salvation. 



io6 Barnas Sears 

His son came, and Doctor Sears said: *He 
has just returned to his home rejoicing in a 
hope in Christ.' He added: 

' Let sinners learn to pray, 

Let saints keep near the throne; 
Our help in times of deep distress 
Is found in God alone.' " 

It has been said, with great propriety, that 
**as President of Brown University he was 
distinguished for politeness and courtesy to 
the young men under his care. More than 
one wild, reckless student has been heard to 
say that there was no fun in trying to * get a 
rise' on their ' Prex.', for he was so sincerely 
respectful that it made all their efforts fall 
flat to the ground. Even in the sarcastic and 
impudently witty Mock Programme issued 
on class days, their loved President was 
spoken of as ' a gentleman and a scholar,' and 
never was his dignified and stately presence 
brought down to ridicule, even by the most 
daring ring-leader in rowdyism. ' He treated 
me as though I was a Senior,' explained an 
apprehensive Freshman, after a summons to 



A Christian Educator 107 

Doctor Sears's study, ' and the first thing he 
did was to offer me a chair.' " 

If it be asked, What did he accompHsh 
during his presidency of Brown? the answer 
may be given in the words of Doctor Guild, 
the Hbrarian of the college: ''During his ad- 
ministration the faculties for instruction were 
increased; an elegant and well-appointed 
laboratory for the department of analytical 
chemistry was erected at the expense of lib- 
eral-minded citizens of Providence ; a system 
of scholarships for meritorious and indigent 
students was inaugurated ; the Bowen estate, 
so called, on the corner of George and Pros- 
pect Streets, through the munificence of a 
member of the corporation, was added to 
the college green ; the institution was brought 
into harmonious relations with the govern- 
ment of the city and State by liberal conces- 
sions in the matter of taxation; a debt of 
twenty-five thousand dollars was extin- 
guished, and large additions were made to 
the college funds." 

Brief reference may here be made to the 



io8 Barnas Sears 

discourse of Doctor Sears at the Centennial 
Celebration of Brown University in 1864. It 
was an able historical retrospect, afterwards 
published; but its account of certain events 
connected with the origin of the College Char- 
ter did not escape censure. It was felt to be 
partisan by some liberal supporters of the 
college, although it is difficult to believe that 
its author had any but friendly feelings 
towards Christians of every name, or that he 
intended the slightest injustice to the mem- 
ory of any man. He was himself too good a 
historian to believe in misrepresentation, if 
there was any opportunity for it, and it may 
be doubted whether there was any motive 
for it in the instance referred to. 

But the great work of Doctor Sears during 
his presidency was with and for the under- 
graduates. It was strictly educational, aim- 
ing to secure the development of the whole 
man on lines of beauty and power. Neither 
the moral nor the religious nature was over- 
looked. Reason, conscience, and will were 
deemed of no less worth than memory and 



A Christian Educator 109 

learning. Character was glorified far more 
than reputation. It was the aim of Doctor 
Sears to inspire the men under his care with 
a love of goodness and truth, more intense 
and controlling than their love of greatness. 
And his influence over them was ideally 
powerful and wholesome. If he did not 
make them all better men, more scholarly, 
more thoughtful, more conscientious, more 
self -forgetful, more courteous, more humane, 
more hopeful, and more useful, than they 
were when they came under his influence, it 
must have been because of their being already 
"joined to their idols" and given over to ''a 
reprobate mind." Some there are in our 
schools of learning who may not unjustly be 
thus characterized, and no educator should 
be held responsible for their persistence in 
evil ways. But they are rare in schools ad- 
ministered by men of the caliber and spirit 
of Doctor Sears. 



-4 



CHAPTER VII 

GENERAL AGENT OF THE PEABODY 
EDUCATION FUND 

1867-1880 

V *' To he quite clear what one ought to do, and have little 
or no choice, is one of the essentials of happiness." 

B. Sears, in Diary. 

In the year 1867, Doctor Sears was called 
to a very different, though no less responsible 
post — that of Secretary or General Agent of 
the Trustees of the well-known Peabody 
Fund. That important fund for the promo- 
tion of education in the Southern States was 
created by the following letter of George Pea- 
body, a native of Danvers, Massachusetts, 
part of which is now Peabody, but long a 
resident in London, England : 

"To Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, of Massa- 

chusetts ; Hon. Hamilton Fish, of New 

York ; Right Rev^ Charles P. Mcllvaine, 

of Ohio; General U. S. Grant, of the United 

no 



A Christian Educator 1 1 1 

States Army; Hon. William C. Rives, of 
Virginia; Hon. John H. Clifford, of Massa- 
chusetts; Hon. William Aiken, of South 
Carolina; William M. Evarts, Esq., of New 
York; Hon. William A. Graham, of North 
Carolina; Charles Macalester, Esq., of Penn- 
sylvania; George W. Riggs, Esq., of Wash- 
ington; Samuel Wetmore, Esq., of New 
York; Edward A. Bradford, Esq., of Mary- 
land; and George Peabody Russell, Esq., 
of Massachusetts: — I give to you, gentle- 
men, the sum of one million of dollars, to 
be by you and your successors held in trust, 
and the income thereof used and applied at 
your discretion for the intellectual, moral, 
or industrial education among the young of 
the more destitute portions of the Southern 
and Southwestern States of our Union ; my 
purpose being that the benefits intended shall 
be distributed among the entire population, 
without other distinction than their needs 
and the opportunities of usefulness to them. 
"Besides the income thus devised I give 
to you permission to use from the principal 



V 



1 1 2 Barnas Sears 

sum, within the next two years, an amount 
not exceeding forty per cent. 

''In addition to this gift I place in your 
hands bonds of the State of Mississippi, 
issued to the Planters Bank, amounting, with 
interest, to about eleven hundred thousand 
dollars, the amount realized by you from 
which is to be added to and used for the pur- 
poses of the Trust. The validity of these 
bonds has never been questioned. 

"The details and organization of the 
Trust I leave with you, only requesting that 
Mr. Winthrop be chairman, and Gov. Fish 
and Bishop Mcllvaine vice-chairmen of your 
body; and I give you power to make all 
necessary by-laws and regulations ; to obtain 
an Act of Incorporation if any shall be neces- 
sary. All vacancies, occurring in your num- 
ber by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall 
be filled by your election as soon as con- 
veniently may be, and having in view an 
equality of representation so far as regards 
the Northern and Southern States. 

"George Peabody. 

"Washington, Feb. 7, 1867." 



A Christian Educator 113 

In further explanation of his purpose, he 
wrote: ''What I desire is to aid in giving 
elementary education to the children of the 
common people." It appears that Mr. Win- 
throp had conversed with Doctor Sears at 
the old Wednesday Evening Club of Boston 
concerning the execution of the Trust, and 
that this conversation led to a request by 
him that Doctor Sears would state his views 
in writing. Thinking of the matter over 
night, he gave his consent the next morning 
to do this, and the following day brought 
this letter to Mr. Winthrop: 

"Providence, March 14, 1867. 

*'HoN. Robert C. Winthrop: At your re- 
quest, I give you such thoughts as have 
occurred to my mind, in the brief time that 
has intervened since I saw you, on the sub- 
ject of the use that it is expedient to make 
of the Fund which Mr. Peabody has placed 
at your disposal. 

"i. Too much importance cannot be at- 
tached to the policy and measures that shall 

8 



114 Barnas Sears 

be adopted. Besides the care that can be 
bestowed on the subject by the Trustees, 
who, it is supposed, can give but a hmited 
amount of their time to it, I think, with you, 
that it is desirable to have an executive 
officer, a superintendent, who can compre- 
hend the whole subject, and work whatever 
machinery is necessary with unity of design 
and with effectiveness. 

'*2. As to plans and methods, much is to 
be created. We have nothing exactly like 
what is to be undertaken. There are no 
examples before you. There has been no 
experience directly in this line of action. 
Much must come by time and by actual trial. 
Principles may be laid down, but there must 
be room for variations in details. 

" S- There are two general methods to be 
considered : the one is that of originating and 
carrying on a system of schools. The other 
is that of disbursing funds in aid of others 
who shall have the schools in charge. The 
former method would require an extensive 
system of agencies. Work will not go on 



A Christian Educator 115 

well, without an ever-present and active 
superintendence and vigilance to prevent and 
correct abuses arising from negligence or self- 
ishness. The latter is simpler, easier, and 
attended with fewer risks. 

**Now, if time shall show that the two 
methods must be, to some extent, combined, 
it would seem to be safer and more conven- 
ient to begin with the second, as the transi- 
tion to the first could be made without 
trouble and to any extent, whenever it 
should seem expedient. Any change in the 
other direction would be more difficult, as 
the first method commits one largely to the 
future. 

"4. I should think it might be as well to 
begin with a single agent, whose first busi- 
ness it should be to furnish aid where it is 
most needed, in strengthening and resusci- 
tating schools, and, perhaps, aiding others 
to open new ones. For a time he might find 
judicious and active friends of education, 
who, in different localities, would gladly ren- 
der him the aid he shall need. Thus he 



ii6 Barn as Sears 

would soon, as he proceeds, learn not only 
what kind and amount of help is needed, but 
he could come to know the men who could 
best render it. If it be necessary to have 
local agents, this would, perhaps, be the best 
way of introducing them. 

"5. Of course, effective schools, that shall 
be permanent, is the great desideratum. This 
is not only the best thing for the young, but 
they furnish to the people at large the strong- 
est argument in favor of popular education. 
Let good schools, springing up on the soil, 
growing out of the wants of the people and 
meeting those wants, be sprinkled all over 
the South, as examples, and be made the 
nuclei for others, and let them be established 
and controlled, as far as possible, by the 
people themselves, and they will in time 
grow into State systems. Beside direct aid 
in the support of such schools, which would, 
no doubt, be the first work to be done, there 
are various indirect ways of reaching the 
same end. Normal schools, especially for 
training female teachers for the primary 



A Christian Educator 1 1 7 

schools ; higher education given in the form 
of scholarships to a limited number of young 
men who should obligate themselves to teach 
as long a period, at least, as that during 
which they received aid, or to refund the 
money; encouragement to Teachers' Asso- 
ciations (County or State Associations) by 
giving them fifty or a hundred dollars to 
pay the lecturers at their meetings ; aid to 
Editors or Publishers of Journals of Educa- 
tion for the benefit of Teachers, these might 
be some of the indirect methods to be 
used. 

"6. I state a little more particularly here 
some of the objections to the first plan men- 
tioned in No. 3. There will not only be a 
great amount of supervision and direction of 
the work on the hands of the Trustees and 
their agents ; but many official reports from 
all the schools, whose form must be pre- 
scribed, which must be examined, collated, 
and, possibly, printed, as is now done by 
Boards of Education. All this formidable 
official procedure by a body of men in some 



ii8 Barnas Sears 

sense foreign to the different States, will only 
serve as a barrier, keeping the schools from 
the public sympathies. The ownership of lots 
and buildings by the Trustees will tend to 
make the people indifferent or jealous. The 
ultimate transfer of such property to the 
towns and cities will be an awkward business 
to transact. The permanent care of a large 
number of houses, their security, proper 
occupancy and repairs, will be troublesome. 
Property jointly held by the towns and the 
Trustees would occasion still more trouble. 
At the utmost, I should think, one or two or 
three Normal School buildings might be 
owned by the Trustees. Even these it might 
be better to induce the people to build, and 
then carry on the school for them, for a 
longer or shorter time, either wholly or in 
part. Places for other schools, especially 
primary schools, could be obtained without 
building or purchasing them, certainly for 
the present. But on these and other 
similar points experience would soon be 
the best teacher. These are first thoughts, 



A Christian Educator 119 

which, for that reason, may have little 
value. 

"Very respectfully and sincerely your obt. 

servant, 

"B. Sears." 

By comparing the action of the Board of 
Trustees at its first meeting on the 19th of 
March, 1867, it will be seen that it followed 
very closely the suggestions of this remark- 
able letter. For it was resolved: 

'' I. That for the present the promotion of 
Primary, or Common School Education, by 
such means or agencies as now exist or may 
need to be created, be the leading object of 
the Board, in the use of the fund placed at 
its disposal. 

''2. That in aid of the above general de- 
sign, and as promotive of the same, the 
Board will have in view the furtherance of 
Normal School Education for the prepara- 
tion of teachers as well by the endowment of 
Scholarships in existing Southern institu- 
tions as by the establishing of Normal Schools 
and the aiding of such Normal Schools as 



I20 Barnas Sears 

may now be in operation in the Southern and 
Southwestern States, including such meas- 
ures as may be feasible and as experience 
may show to be expedient, for the promotion 
of education in the application of science to 
the industrial pursuits of life. 

'*3. That a General Agent of the highest 
qualifications be appointed by the Board, to 
whom shall be entrusted, under an Execu- 
tive Committee, the whole charge of carrying 
out the designs of Mr. Peabody in his great 
gift, under such resolutions and instructions 
as the Board shall from time to time adopt. 

"4. That the Rev. Dr. Sears, President of 
Brown University, be appointed the General 
Agent of the Board, upon such terms as may 
be arranged by the Finance Committee. 

''5. That an Executive Committee of five 
Trustees be appointed by the Chairman at 
each annual meeting of the Board, to whom 
shall be entrusted, in connection with the 
General Agent, the carrying out of such 
resolutions and plans as the Board shall from 
time to time adopt. 



" A Christian Educator 121 

"6. That the next Annual Meeting of the 
Board be held in New York on the third 
Tuesday in June, 1868, and that in the mean- 
time the Chairman be authorized to call 
meetings at such times and places as the 
Executive Committee may direct." 

After further discussion, it was resolved: 

''That the Board will hold a meeting in 
the city of Richmond on the third Tuesday 
of January next." 

In response to this action of the Trustees, 
Doctor Sears took a little time for further 
consideration and consultation. He was de- 
lighted with his relations to faculty and stu- 
dents in the University, and the corporation 
was ready in its support of his measures. 
But he was uncertain as to his safety in the 
climate of New England during the winter 
months, and he believed there was a wide 
door of usefulness opened to him in adminis- 
tering the Peabody Fund. As was expected 
by Mr. Winthrop, he decided ere long to 
accept the new position and sunder his con- 
nection with the college which he ardently 



122 Barnas Sears 

loved. His acceptance was dated March 30, 
1867. The following paragraph from an 
article of Doctor Heman Lincoln emphasizes 
one of the reasons for his decision : ''In 
regard to the Peabody Agency, the call of 
Doctor Sears by Providence was as marked 
as the call of Moses or Samuel. His health 
had been broken down by the anxieties of 
professional labor in Brown University; his 
voice had failed and refused its office. The 
physician's order was imperative for a change 
of climate, and for rest. Doctor Sears was 
on the point of asking from the Corporation 
for a year's absence in Europe, when the 
unanimous choice of Mr. Peabody and the 
Trustees of the noble fund called him to a 
new work. It gave him release from public 
speaking, it opened a milder climate, and 
probably added ten years to his life, and he 
accepted it as a direct call from God." Re- 
moving to Staunton, Virginia, September 19, 
1867, he entered with vigor and hope upon 
his new and difficult task. 

No better representation of this task and 



A Christian Educator 123 

of the skill and prudence with which it was 
performed has been made than the follow- 
ing from the pen of Doctor J. L. M. Curry, 
the successor of Doctor Sears as Secretary of 
the Peabody Trust : '' With great energy and 
tact Doctor Sears entered upon his delicate, 
difficult, and onerous duties. . . . He 
brought to the discharge of his work accurate 
scholarship, unusual fullness of historical and 
pedagogical information, a minute and prac- 
tical acquaintance with the principles and 
details of State School systems, imperturb- 
able temper, patient and laborious inquiry, 
a ready and thankful willingness to learn, 
and to modify opinions and judgments 
formed from partial knowledge, a broad and 
tolerant patriotism, impressive courtesy and 
dignity of manner, firmness of action, tender- 
est sympathy for the unfortunate, and stead- 
fast, inextinguishable faith in the feasibility 
and indispensableness of universal education. 
It may well be doubted whether any other 
person could have been found who had such 
adaptedness to the work, because of his rare 



124 Barnas Sears 

combination of personal, intellectual, and 
moral qualities. Reference has been made 
to the bankruptcy of the South and to the 
timeliness of the benefaction. The truth of 
history requires the cumulative statement 
that while many resolutely accepted the situ- 
ation, and with courage and subdued hope 
turned their faces to the future, a majority 
dwelt in the mournful past, grieved with un- 
utterable sadness over 'the lost cause,' and 
adjusted themselves slowly and with ill- 
temper to the new environments, and were 
not restraintful in the bitter and almost sav- 
age expression of their discontent. To con- 
ciliate opposition, to quiet offensive hostility, 
to avoid irritation, to put a charitable con- 
struction upon hasty speech and rude action, 
to help in dissipating despair, to be listened 
to in suggesting and urging a permanent 
policy of free schools, offering equal advan- 
tages to the late masters and the emanci- 
pated slaves, and in direct opposition to the 
traditions and practices of the whole past, 
required what few men possessed; and this 



A Christian Educator 125 

history would have been very different but 
for the wonderful skill and ability with which 
Doctor Sears, transferring his home and citi- 
zenship to Virginia, surmounted obstacles, 
changed adverse opinions and convictions of 
the people, made the Peabody Fund a most 
popular trust, and became himself imbedded 
in the confidence and affections of the 
South." ^ 

It was a primary object of Doctor Sears to 
encourage the establishment of systems of 
public schools in all the States; and one of 
the questions which he presently encoun- 
tered related to the attitude which the almo- 
ners of the Peabody Fund would hold to the 
demand for ''mixed schools." In 1869, he 
wrote to a New Orleans paper in reply to 
articles of inquiry : 

"I will now state our position, which is 
perfectly known to you. We assume no 
control whatever over the arrangement of 
the schools to which assistance is accorded. 

^ See Peabody Education Fund, by the Hon. J. L. M. 
Curry. 



126 Barnas Sears 

We have nothing to do with any party 
questions, or with the poHcy pursued by 
Municipal or State authorities. We only 
wish to aid in the work of universal education. 
If separate schools are provided for the two 
races, and both of them are pleased with the 
arrangement, we can have no embarrass- 
ment in co-operating with the State authori- 
ties. If the law requires mixed schools, and 
the children, whether white or black, gener- 
ally attend them, we shall have no difficulty 
in our work. ... If a State government 
ventures upon an experiment which works 
badly, we cannot help it. We leave the re- 
sponsibility where it belongs. We must go 
our way, and do our duty, helping the needy 
and uneducated 'among the entire population, 
without other distinction than their needs, 
and the opportunities of usefulness to them.' 
Our proper business is to encourage univer- 
sal education ; not to meddle with any party 
question, nor to encourage or discourage any 
political body." 

But he became fully convinced that "any 



A Christian Educator 127 

authoritative interference with the schools of 
these States (by Congress) would be disas- 
trous to the dearest interests of education, 
and would be by far the most unfortunate 
for that class of citizens in whose behalf such 
measures have been proposed. Foreseeing 
the dangers which threatened the destruction 
of the State systems of free schools in the 
South, in all of which provision is made for 
the education of one race as much as the 
other, and standing, in some sense, as the 
guardian of the interests committed to your 
care, I could not remain a passive spectator, 
while men in power were unwittingly, as 
we are bound to believe, urging on a meas- 
ure which, if carried out, would undo nearly 
all that you have done at the expenditure of 
so much treasure and assiduous labor. On 
the contrary, I felt constrained to go twice 
before committees and leading members of 
Congress, and utter a voice of earnest warn- 
ing against a futile attempt to enforce ' mixed 
schools,' and to show, as best I might, what 
would be the necessary operation of such a 



128 Barnas Sears 

law. . . . Already an amount of mischief 
has been done which it will take years to 
repair. Confidence has been shaken; and 
men who stood firm before have become de- 
spondent, and are retiring from the field. . . . 
Upon no part of the community would the 
threatened calamity fall so heavily as upon 
the colored people. Others can, without any 
personal sacrifice, return to the old system of 
private schools. . . . These, on the other 
hand, would in most places be left com- 
pletely destitute of schools. . . . Let us 
look at the question in the light of their 
interest m.erely. What advantages of edu- 
cation have they now in fact or in law? The 
same that the white people have. . . . 
The laws in all the States require the same 
provision to be made for both. Nor can any 
distinction be safely made in administering 
them. . . . From the very nature of the 
case, the State governments must, in the 
end, adopt and carry out the same rule Tor 
both races," etc. (Annual Report in 1874). 
The "Civil Rights Bill" was passed without 



A Christian Educator 129 

the clause covering the co-education of the 
races, and the ''States moved on with con- 
fidence and courage," the words of Doctor 
Curry assure us. 

To illustrate a little further the work of 
Doctor Sears, it may be remarked that during 
the winter and spring of 1876 he made a can- 
vass of the State of Texas in the interest of 
public schools, which had failed of success 
"during a period of fierce party strife." In 
a letter to Mr. Winthrop, he says: " My work 
in Texas was finished more than a week ago, 
and I trust all reasonable expectations have 
been realized. The appointments and other 
arrangements made by our agent, Rev. Doctor 
Burleson, turned out to be excellent." And 
Doctor Burleson published an address, in 
which he said: "Doctor Sears has made this 
tour to Texas in compHance with the special 
request of Mr. Peabody, expressed shortly 
before his death. There never was such a 
canvass made in the great cause of educa- 
tion in Texas before, and never was there 
such enthusiasm awakened to commence a 



I30 Barnas Sears 

new and grand educational era in Texas. 
Doctor Sears has been heard with profound 
attention by our governor and supreme 
judges, our greatest educators, our mayors, 
our editors, our merchants, and leading 
minds in all our professions and occupations. 
One sentiment universally prevails — and 
that is, that it will be a burning shame on 
Texas not to provide better educational 
facilities." 

These particulars have been mentioned to 
show, though in a very imperfect manner, 
the extremely difficult and arduous service 
which Doctor Sears was called to perform. 
It would be easy to increase their number in- 
definitely, and to enlarge upon the patience 
and tact always displayed by him. He was 
a Christian philanthropist putting all his 
energy and heart into the work. 

As to the manner of his fulfilling this new 
and conspicuous trust, I may here produce the 
testimony of the Honorable Robert C. Win- 
throp at the funeral of Doctor Sears in Brook- 
line. The very style of Mr. Winthrop's re- 



A Christian Educator 131 

marks seems to labor with his emotion and 
sense of conscientious obligation to speak 
but the words of truth and soberness : 

" It must be only a word that I shall say. 
Within an hour past I have reached my home 
after a fatiguing journey of more than sixty. 
miles on this most oppressive day rather than 
be absent from the obsequies of one whom I 
venerated and loved. And the most that I 
can say here this afternoon is to unite my 
voice with that of my friend (Mr. Boutwell) 
who has just taken his seat, in thanking God 
for the good and great life that has just 
closed. It has been my fortune to be brought 
into the most intimate and affectionate re- 
lations to Doctor Sears for thirteen years 
past, and I think hardly a full month 
has ever elapsed during that period — unless 
I happened to be in Europe, and even then 
his letters often followed me — that I have 
not read letters from him on this question of 
the great trust which had been committed 
to him through Mr. George Peabody, or, as 
I might say, as much through my own 



132 Barnas Sears 

agency as Mr. Peabody's, for Mr. Peabody 
had never known Doctor Sears, I think, until 
after he had been made Secretary or General 
Agent of that great Board of Trustees. Gov- 
ernor Clifford and myself knew him as 
Secretary of the Board of Education of Massa- 
chusetts, and Governor Clifford had known 
him as President of Brown University; but 
I know very well that from the day on which, 
by a unanimous vote of that great Board, we 
made him its General Agent, from that time 
to this we have gloried in that act. It has 
been the crowning glory of his own life. We 
have had as Trustees, with whom he was 
associated, such men as President Hayes, 
President Grant, Governor Fish, Secretary 
Evarts, Bishop Mcllvaine of Ohio, Bishop 
Whipple, the present Apostolic of Minnesota, 
and I think there is not one of them, and 
many others, who would not enjoin upon 
me, utterly unprepared as I am, for I had 
the intimation only as I entered the door a 
moment ago that anything was expected 
from me — ^there is not one of them who 




THE HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP 



A Christian Educator 133 

would not hold me to account if I did not 
express in behalf of the whole Board, includ- 
ing especially the Southern members — Mr. 
Keene, of South Carolina, Mr. Stuart, Gen- 
eral Jackson, of Georgia, and the Chief Jus- 
tice of Louisiana, who has recently been 
added to our Board in place of General Tay- 
lor — ^there is not one of them who would not 
hold me to strict account if I did not express 
in their behalf as well as my own the deep 
sense of the great public loss that has been 
sustained in the death of Doctor Sears, and 
of the great personal loss which we shall all 
feel. 

" But, as I said, he has finished the crown- 
ing glory of his life. Coming in just at the 
close of the war, and when feelings between 
the different parts of the country were embit- 
tered, when there was great jealousy, great 
impatience with anything that should seem 
like interference with Southern institutions, 
he so conducted that great trust through a 
period of thirteen years, that we have com- 
pleted, really, the primary work for which 



*/ 



134 Barnas Sears 

the trust was instituted, and are ready to 
follow a defined line of policy. He has con- 
ducted it in a manner which I do not believe 
any man living or dead could have conducted 
it — with so much success, with so much abil- 
ity, with so much devotion. I can say 
nothing more." 

And surely nothing more need be said to 
convince anyone, who knows the relation of 
Robert C. Winthrop to Barnas Sears and the 
Peabody Fund, that the service of Doctor 
Sears to the cause of education during the 
last thirteen years of his life was a service of 
the noblest and finest quality, worthy of the 
cause and worthy of the man whose name 
we delight to honor. 

Yet the remarks of the Right Reverend H. 
B. Whipple, at the meeting of the Board of 
Trustees, February 2, 1881, after the Chair- 
man's address on Doctor Sears, deserve a 
place in this record: 

" I do not feel able to add one word to the 
just tribute paid by our Chairman to the 
memory of Doctor Sears. His name will al- 



A Christian Educator 135 

ways be remembered as the wise almoner of 
this great trust. We all know his rare wis- 
dom, his patient industry and his gentleness 
in overcoming obstacles, and so drawing all 
hearts to him that they worked with him in 
laying the foundations of a system of public 
schools for the South. 

''I feel that as one of another communion I 
may say a few words of his Christian charac- 
ter. The crowning glory of his life was his 
simple, earnest faith in Jesus Christ. It was 
to him a life of loyalty to the One who had 
created and redeemed him. He doubtless 
loved the church which was his home, but 
his heart was too great to have his sym- 
pathies fettered by any hedges of man's 
making. He loved all whom God loved, and 
his heart went out for all who need the com- 
fort and consolations of religion. We can 
all recall times when his gentle manners and 
Christian humility won our hearts. I have 
felt it a great privilege to be associated with 
one whose religion was so broad, so earnest, 
so real. Few men leave behind them so 



136 Barnas Sears 

many blessed memories of work which was 
well done. We can rejoice, while we mourn, 
that the brave servant of Christ has entered 
into the rest of the people of God. For him 
the hoary head was a crown of glory, for he 
was found in the way of righteousness, and 
we believe that for him at eventide there was 
the light of the other home." 

No less instructive were the remarks of 
the Honorable A. H. H. Stuart at the same 
meeting of the Board. After speaking of 
Doctor Sears at his home in Staunton, 
he added these words concerning his 
work: 

'' But it was as an advocate of popular ed- 
ucation, as an organizer of public schools, as 
an exponent of the best methods of instruc- 
tion, as a leader of public opinion, that he 
stood pre-eminent among the men of the day. 
His speech before the Convention of Virginia 
in 1868, on the subject of * Free Schools,' and 
the general diffusion of knowledge among the 
people, was, in my judgment, one of the 
ablest and most effective that was ever de- 



A Christian Educator 137 

livered on that subject ; and I have no hesi- 
tation in saying that it aided materially in 
giving shape and impulse to the admirable 
system of ' Free Schools ' which now prevails 
in Virginia. 

''In reading the speech a few days ago, I 
was particularly impressed with the follow- 
ing sentence : ' Among the best gifts of Provi- i/' 
dence to a nation are great and good men 
who act as its leaders and guides; who 
leave their mark upon their age ; who give a 
new direction to affairs; who introduce a 
course of events which go down from genera- 
tion to generation pouring their blessings on 
mankind.' How replete with wisdom, how 
beautiful in expression, is this sentence,— 
how worthy of the man who gave utterance 
to it ! And who among those best acquainted 
with him can fail to perceive that, in these 
few words, he unconsciously, but with a 
master's hand, sketched what must be recog- 
nized as an accurate portrait of his own 
noble character!" 

Not less significant were the words of 



138 Barnas Sears 

Chancellor Stearns of the Normal College at 
Nashville, Tenn., as a tribute to the character 
and work of Doctor Sears : ' ' This is not the 
time or place for a minute analysis of the char- 
acter of this gifted person, nor for a discussion 
of those traits whose strength, fullness, and 
harmony made up the man. I have already 
touched upon many of the more prominent. 
But as I have challenged your admiration, 
I would also with much more earnestness, if 
possible, hold up this exalted character for 
your study and imitation. His almost 
august person will never again be seen, or 
his noble presence felt by us. We shall 
never again listen, spellbound, to the words 
of wise counsel falling in sweet yet manly 
tones from his lips. We shall see him no 
more, but I shall beg you not to forget what 
made him great. The dignity of his person, 
the elegance and courtliness of his man- 
ners, his profound learning, his benevolent 
spirit, his purity of heart, his undying Chris- 
tian faith, his devotion to his Lord and Mas- 
ter, may all be yours. Live, young gentlemen 



A Christian Educator 139 

and ladies, such lives as his, and you will not 
have lived in vain." 

Tributes of a similar character came to 
Mr. Winthrop from all parts of the South; 
from boards of education, trustees of public 
schools, State superintendents of instruction, 
associations of teachers, city councils, and 
governors; from Virginia, Georgia, Tennes- 
see, Kansas, and Texas. All of them were 
unqualified in their high appreciation of the 
service which Doctor Sears had rendered to 
the cause of education by his personal influ- 
ence in the administration of the Peabody 
Fund. It would be a pleasure to reproduce 
these testimonials of his almost unparalleled 
success in so difficult an enterprise; but 
space will not permit. 

In perfect accord with these testimonies 
concerning Doctor Sears in the last thirteen 
years of his life, are the words of the writer 
of this memorial at his funeral, based upon 
what he was as a teacher thirty years before. 
His earlier work was prophetic of his later. 
No man can be an inspiring teacher without 



<< 



HO Barnas Sears 

loving knowledge with a great and mani- 
fest love. This qualification for his work at 
Newton was possessed in an eminent degree 
by Doctor Sears. His pupils in theology and 
church history were made to feel that realms 
of truth were constantly opening to his view, 
and that he was eagerly beckoning them on- 
ward in the search for it. The action of his 
mind was rapid and comprehensive. De- 
tails of argument did not confuse him. He 
laid hold of the latest and best discussions of 
the topics which he was to present and used 
them with skill. He gave to his pupils the 
impression that truth was many-sided and 
not to be attained without effort, but also 
that it was eternal and within the reach of 
honest endeavor. Not that it could be found 
here in its perfection; for, though his words 
were habitually hopeful, no one was more will- 
ing to admit that now we know but in part. 
''With this sober estimate of human prog- 
ress in religious science, he kept alive in his 
own heart and kindled in the hearts of his 
pupils an ardent love of Christian knowledge, 



A Christian Educator 141 

giving to some of them an impulse to high 
endeavor which will only cease to work with 
the last moment of life. 

''But Doctor Sears was not simply a 
scholar, he was also a philanthropist deeply 
interested in the improvement of society. 
Familiar with the history of mankind, he 
was accustomed to trace with delight the 
indications of a divine plan in that history, 
the signs of overruling wisdom amid the 
passion and selfishness of conflicting nations, 
the evidences of progress toward something 
better in the operation of vast social, moral, 
and religious forces. This was evident in his 
teaching. He had an eye to the world while 
he was speaking to his class. He felt the 
pulses of his age while he was dealing with 
a few young men in the retirement of an 
upper room. This may have been partly 
due to the historical cast of his mind, but it 
was chiefly due to his love of man. There 
was nothing of the hermit in his spirit. He 
believed in living and working among men 
for their benefit. 



142 Barnas Sears 

''And no class of students could be so 
small that he did not seem to connect it with 
the whole world, and to feel that the truth 
he was unfolding might be carried by it to 
the ends of the earth. Nor was this a de- 
lusion. From some of the smallest groups 
that sat at his feet, men were called to visit 
distant lands, that they might cast seeds of 
truth into minds untaught and dark. How 
much of their zeal for the diffusion of saving 
truth was due to his influence no one can tell, 
but we who enjoyed his tuition know that 
the weal of mankind was rarely absent from 
his thoughts. 

''For eight years he was a faithful and 
laborious member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of our Foreign Missionary Society. 
His service on this Committee was during a 
time of peculiar difficulty and excitement; 
his counsel and influence are said to have 
been wise and firm though conciliatory, and 
his efforts very efficient in preserving the 
Society from bankruptcy. I remember well 
the appeals which he sometimes made to 



A Christian Educator 143 

young men in behalf of the foreign vService. 
Moreover, happily for us, and I believe for 
him, he was repeatedly chosen, a few years 
since, to preside over the Missionary Union 
(three years, 1 874-77) . The addresses which 
he delivered at the opening sessions of the 
Union were remarkable, especially the last 
two, one of them upon the Older Mission- 
aries of the Society, and the other upon the 
Present State of our Mission Fields. 

''After what has been said, it is scarcely 
necessary to speak of Doctor Sears's fidelity 
to Christian truth. Yet this is one of the 
clearest evidences of high character which 
the life of any Christian affords. For, 
though persecution has ceased, it is impos- 
sible for any good man to fill a place in 
society without meeting with persons who 
disapprove, if they do not despise, his re- 
ligious belief; and it is the mark of a great 
and genuine man to be always faithful to his 
convictions of religious duty, to stand firmly 
by what he believes to be true, and to let the 
testimony of his example proclaim the faith 



144 Barnas Sears 

of his soul. In this respect, I have reason to 
suppose that Doctor Sears was a model 
Christian, courteous to all, overawed by 
none, willing to treat others kindly, but 
ready, on proper occasions, to avow his own 
standing in the Church of Christ, and his own 
faith in the Redeemer of men. Such was 
the impression which he made on our minds 
as a theological teacher. For while his dis- 
cussions in the class-room were broad and 
free, without bitterness to any and singu- 
larly just to those whose views differed from 
his own, I am bound to say that I was never 
in doubt as to his own belief on any impor- 
tant point, and was sure that he accepted 
with steadfast confidence the cardinal facts 
and principles of our holy religion. Making 
free use of German scholarship, and boldly 
asserting it to be his right and duty to do 
this, he was never, I think, the servant of 
that scholarship, but always, in a proper 
sense, its master, rejecting without fear or 
scruple any of its conclusions that seemed to 
be erroneous. And no mind, reverent and 



A Christian Educator 145 

hospitable towards truth, can do otherwise. 
Is not this the same man who thirty years 
afterwards administered the Peabody Fund 
in the South ? 

** If a more definite statement is desired in 
respect to the results of Doctor Sears' s work 
in the South, the following words of Honor- 
able Robert C. Winthrop are sufficient : ' We 
may well thank God that we have enjoyed 
his inestimable services for thirteen succes- 
sive years, and that during this period he 
has accomplished, with our counsel and co- 
operation, the first and most important part 
of the plan which he originally marked out 
for us. We have laid foundations which 
cannot be removed. The Common School 
System has been recognized and adopted in 
every one of the States contemplated by 
Mr. Peabody 's endowment. Good School 
Laws have been enacted in all the Southern 
States, and good Common Schools may now 
be found "sprinkled," as he said, over those 
States, as examples and models.' 

"Another authority says : * When he began. 



146 Barnas Sears 

the South was almost a stranger to public 
schools; to-day the public-school system of 
all Southern States is almost complete, and 
its rapidly increasing privileges are offered 
to all alike. It would be erroneous to assert 
that this is exclusively the work of Doctor 
Sears ; but it is right to say that no man has 
cared more wisely for the common schools of 
the whole South than Doctor Sears. He 
has done fully as much for the schools of 
the South as Horace Mann did for those of 
Massachusetts; possibly he has done more. 
And, unlike most reformers, he has been a 
peace-maker, modest, retiring, and sweet- 
tempered. It would be contrary to human 
nature, if the whole South did not mourn his 
loss like that of a paternal friend and per- 
sonal benefactor.* 

* ' In respect to the second part of the work 
planned by Doctor Sears, the founding of 
Normal Schools, of scholarships, and the 
promotion of Teachers' Institutes, a good 
beginning had been made. Writing to Mr. 
Winthrop on the 23d of October, 1877, he 



A Christian Educator 147 

says of Texas: 'The truth is, the light is 
coming in steadily, and cannot be shut out. 
I am reminded of what Luther said to Mel- 
ancthon, "When you and I are drinking our 
beer, the Gospel is spreading among the 
people."' 

"In a letter to Mr. Winthrop, dated April 
28, 1879, after speaking of the Normal 
Schools in North Carolina, Mississippi, Vir- 
ginia, and Tennessee, and of the movements 
for their establishment in Florida, Georgia, 
and Texas, he says: 'On the whole, it now 
looks as if we should carry out our new plan, 
the improvement of teachers, as success- 
fully as we did our first, the establishment of 
schools. We must not expect to accomplish 
this in a day ; but we may expect to see the 
work done in a few years, if we steadily make 
this our chief aim.' 

"In his efforts to solve a perplexing prob- 
lem concerning the removal of the Normal 
College at Nashville, Tennessee, to another 
place, Doctor Sears went to Atlanta, Georgia, 
in the month of March, 1880, where he was 



148 Barnas Sears 

joined by Chancellor Stearns on the 2 2d of 
the month. 'On my arrival,' the Chancel- 
lor reports, ' I found that Doctor Sears had 
reached Atlanta some time before me. To 
my deep regret, I found him in bed and very 
ill, — much more so, it seemed to me, than he 
was willing to admit. He had been actively 
engaged since his arrival, with numerous 
persons, who sought his always agreeable 
company, and in visiting different sites pro- 
posed for the location of the College. The 
weather was cold and damp, and he was suf- 
fering too much for the further prosecution 
of business.' After describing a visit made 
by three members of the Board to Athens, a 
rival site for the College, Mr. Stearns con- 
tinues: *We did not reach Atlanta on our 
return the second day, until after 12 o'clock 
at night. With some hesitation lest I should 
disturb the Governor's hospitable family, I 
repaired to the Executive Mansion. The 
servant who admitted me said : ' ' Doctor 
Sears wishes to see you in his room as soon as 
you arrive." *' But Doctor Sears," I replied, 



A Christian Educator 149 

"did not probably anticipate that I would 
be detained until so late an hour; besides, 
he is sick, and I cannot think of disturbing 
him." ''But," said he, ''Doctor Sears has 
not gone to bed, and says he shall not until 
you come. He must see you to-night." I 
accordingly knocked softly at his door, al- 
most certain that there would be no re- 
sponse ; but, to my amazement, he called me 
in, and, as the servant said, sat waiting my 
arrival at nearly one o'clock at night ! He 
could not sleep, he said, until my return 
and he had heard my report. I gave him 
a brief description of my visit, and then 
urged him to retire, promising to give him 
all the particulars in the morning.' 

*'It may not be out of place for me to 
say here, that the physical disability under 
which Doctor Sears was laboring at this time 
seemed to us who were near him a mere tem- 
porary affliction, and not at all indicative of 
enfeebled or wasting physical powers. His 
mind seemed never more vigorous, quicker 
of apprehension, clearer or more powerful, 



150 Barnas Sears 

or his judgment more logical and profound. 
The remarkable vigor of intellect he exhibited 
was not unfrequently commented upon by 
those he met during this visit." 



CHAPTER VIII 

HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE 

But what can be said of Doctor Sears in his 
Staunton home during these thirteen years ? 
In the remarks of Honorable A. H. H. Stuart, 
a part of which have already been quoted, we 
find a partial answer to this question. ''In 
my first interview I found myself drawn to 
him by that species of magnetism which 
some men possess in so high a degree, and 
which at once inspires confidence and awak- 
ens sympathy. ... To high intellectual 
gifts and large attainments in most of the 
departments of useful knowledge, he united 
an urbanity of manner and vivacity of 
spirits which rendered his society peculiarly 
attractive. His colloquial talent and his 
boundless stores of literary incidents and 
anecdotes gave a fascination to his conversa- 
tion which I have rarely known equalled. 

151 



152 Barnas Sears 

His house in Staunton was a sort of social 
center, where a Hberal hospitahty was dis- 
pensed, and gentlemen and ladies of culti- 
vated tastes met periodically to read and 
interchange thoughts and comments on the 
best literary works of the day. ... In 
social life, while Dr. Sears was always digni- 
fied in his bearing, and never for a moment 
forgot what was due to his high official posi- 
tion and his sacred calling as a minister of the 
Gospel, like Sidney Smith, he often took 
pleasure in unbending and giving way to the 
natural gayety of his disposition. On more 
than one festive occasion, when surrounded 
by a few congenial friends, I have known 
him unlock, as it were, the treasury of his 
literary knowledge, and delight the company 
with racy anecdotes and sparkling displays 
of wit and humor, which all felt it was a high 
privilege to enjoy." 

Not long after his death, there appeared 
in The Watchman an article which speaks in 
pleasant terms of his enjoyment of life in his 
Virginia home. 




RESIDENCE OF DR. SEARS AT STAUNTON, VIRGINIA 



A Christian Educator 153 

**He adapted himself to a retired, quiet 
life with surprising cheerfulness. He be- 
came very fond of his beautiful Virginia 
home, and spent much of his leisure in im- 
proving it. During the long summer months 
he preferred remaining there to travelling 
or visiting abroad. The pure mountain air 
and the magnificent view from his piazza of 
the famous 'Valley of the Shenandoah,' ex- 
tending for more than twenty miles, inter- 
rupted at last by the Blue Ridge, afforded 
him continual delight. It was his habit to 
take a favorite author out into the open air, 
and spend hours under the wide-spreading 
oaks, with which his place abounded. Here 
much of his thinking was done ; here much 
of his company was received. Many of his 
intimate friends find themselves even now 
vainly looking for the familiar figure, as 
they come up the shady walks and expect- 
ing the kindly greeting which always wel- 
comed them. He took great pleasure in 
pointing out the various places of interest to 
the frequent strangers who, attracted by the 



154 Barnas Sears 

commanding prospect, rather hesitatingly- 
ventured up the hill. Many have carried 
away pleasant memories of the genial, cour- 
teous old gentleman, who so hospitably 
begged them to rest awhile, and, in the case 
of ladies and children, so freely offered them 
flowers or fruit. 

'Mn previous situations he had never had 
the time or opportunity to enter into outdoor 
occupations, but now, like the venerable Dr. 
Wayland, he found delight in cultivating 
fruit-trees, and vines, and ornamental shrubs ; 
and, although unused to the exertion, might 
often have been seen with his hoe or pruning- 
knife. The partial superintending of a small 
place, about a mile distant from his residence, 
interested him much, and although regarded 
as merely a ' garden' by Virginians, who 
could not, by any stretch of courtesy, call 
forty acres a 'farm,' to him it was quite an 
undertaking. Conjectures were often laugh- 
ingly made as to what some of his Northern 
friends would say, if they could meet him, 
riding out behind his colored man, in his 



A Christian Educator 155 

spring wagon, with wide-brimmed hat and 
umbrella, 'to view his crops.' There can be 
no doubt that this simple, quiet country 
residence prolonged his life for years. The 
bronchial cough, which always assailed him 
on Northern trips, here ceased. The un- 
wonted exercise brought healthful fatigue, 
and his sleep was calm and restful." 

With these '' Northern trips " may be con- 
nected an item of the present writer's ex- 
perience. He is member of a literary and 
religious club which Doctor Sears honored 
with his presence during a transient visit to 
Boston. One of the usages of the club is to 
call upon its members and guests to make 
some report of their reading during the 
month. Doctor Sears was easily first in such 
an exercise ; for he was not only a great reader 
of good books, but a most skilful reporter of 
their contents. His memory retained with 
burr-like tenacity the substance of what was 
committed to it, and was rarely at fault in re- 
recalling whatever was stored away in it . On 
the occasion referred to, his characterization 



156 Barnas Sears 

of several books was so distinct and forcible 
as to kindle the admiration of all present. 

Doctor Sears was able to adapt himself 
with remarkable facility to circumstances. 
A friend writes that ''it was often a wonder 
how he could so readily conform to any and 
every condition. Once while visiting a well- 
known family in the Southwestern part of 
the State, he had occasion to take a trip of 
more than seventy miles across uncultivated 
country. The oldest lady member owned 
a very fine saddle-horse, which she, although 
a grandmother, kept exclusively for her in- 
dividual use. In arranging for the expedi- 
tion, this lady proposed that Doctor Sears 
should take her horse and journey in the 
saddle! It had been probably over forty 
years since he had ridden horseback, but he 
accepted the proposal, and afterwards was ac- 
customed to relate, with some merriment, how 
he accomplished the jaunt in three days' time. 
Mr. Peabody met this lady at the White Sul- 
phur Springs, shortly after, in company with 
Doctor Sears, and hearing this fact related, 



4| 

A Christian Educator 157 

thanked her very graciously for assisting in 
carrying out his great scheme of education. 

''On another occasion, while travelling in 
Arkansas, the happy ability to 'accept the 
situation' asserted itself with good fortune 
to others. A furious snow-storm had 
blocked the track, detaining the impatient 
passengers for many hours. Without food 
or fuel, their condition was most uncom- 
fortable, but he, with his cheerful voice and 
ready wit, beguiled the time, encouraging 
each individual to contribute anecdote or 
joke, so that the dismal detention was robbed 
of half its wretchedness. Among the ladies 
there was one, however, who did not par- 
ticipate in the amusement and laughter. On 
inquiry, it was found that she was a foreigner, 
and unable to speak English. Her joy was 
intense on hearing Dr. Sears address her in 
her own language, and she soon told him her 
romantic history. Several years before, her 
lover had left Germany to make a home in 
the United States, and had finally settled in 
Arkansas. Having succeeded in saving 



158 Barnas Sears 

some money, he sent for his betrothed to 
come to him. She had been put in charge 
of a family who came as far as New York, 
and who gave her, on parting, a written ap- 
peal to whomever she should journey with, be- 
speaking their kind offices. Armed with this 
slight protection, she had bravely made her 
way to within a few miles of her destination. 
But this accident had completely unnerved 
her, and she was about to give way to de- 
spair, when the kind, reassuring stranger 
bade her take heart and promised to assist 
her all in his power. She afterwards said 
that hearing 'those good words from the 
beautiful old gentleman gave new courage.' 

"Doctor Sears's journeys abounded in in- 
cidents of this sort, showing uniform courtesy 
and unfeigned interest in the welfare of his 
fellow-creatures. His was true kindness of 
heart, bestowing itself alike on the rich and 
the poor, the educated and the ignorant. As 
a natural result he made hosts of friends, and 
always met with the greatest attention in all 
his Southern trips." 



A Christian Educator 159 

It is possible to emphasize the "sweet 
reasonableness" of Doctor Sears so strongly 
as to obscure his indignation at wrong and 
even his energy in carrying out a deliberate 
purpose. He was from first to last, as every 
great worker must be, tenax propositi. Clear- 
sighted in deliberation, he was strenuous in 
action. Doctor Heman Lincoln refers to an 
intimation that he sometimes ''used a vein 
of sarcasm in his controversial writing which 
wounded persons more than errors;" but 
he replies very truly that ''no one intimate 
with Doctor Sears would doubt that a power 
of sarcasm was one of his great intellectual 
gifts. His intimate friends always won- 
dered how he could hold such a power under 
restraint. He was a model of urbanity in 
social life, and of courtesy in discussions on 
the platform and through the press. The 
gift of sarcasm was rarely brought into use, 
perhaps never, save in obedience to the 
divine command: 'Answer a fool according 
to his folly, lest he be wise in his own con- 
ceit.'" 



CHAPTER IX 

LAST ADDRESS READ BY DOCTOR ELLIS 

We now turn to the words spoken by- 
Doctor George E. Ellis concerning the last 
days of his friend at Saratoga, whither he 
had come to address the American Institute 
of Instruction on the "Educational Progress 
in the United States During the last Fifty 
Years." Said Doctor Ellis, before reading for 
his friend this address: "It could not have 
entered my mind in coming to make my 
accustomed summer visit here, that I should 
be called to the service which I am asked 
now to perform, in part by the late honored 
and revered Doctor Sears, and in part by the 
president of this institute. Doctor Sears had 
dictated at his home in Staunton, Virginia, 
and brought with him, the manuscript of an 
address for this occasion. He was much re- 
duced in health and very weak when he 

i6o 



A Christian Educator i6i 

came, four weeks ago, and expected that his 
address would be read for him, while he hoped 
to attend your meetings. You all know 
with what fidelity and ability, with what 
pre-eminent wisdom and practical efficiency 
he has discharged his high and difficult ser- 
vice to the great Peabody Educational Trust 
for the Southern States. The distinguished 
and most earnest president of that commis- 
sion, the Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, my 
friend and neighbor in Boston, stood in the 
closest relations of confidence and regard with 
Doctor Sears, and charged me on my coming 
here to seek out the patient, with whom I had 
been long acquainted, and to report on his 
condition. I accordingly made almost daily 
visits, and, by Doctor Sears's request, these 
were generally protracted ones, as they en- 
gaged his mind from dwelling on his ill symp- 
toms. He was exceedingly reduced and 
weak, but hopeful of at least partial restora- 
tion, preserving all his dignity and sweet 
serenity, constantly referring to the benefi- 
cent work which had engaged him with 



1 62 Barnas Sears 

such rewarding results for thirteen years, 
and expressing his profound respect and 
warm affection for his advising and sus- 
taining friend, Mr. Winthrop. His vigor 
of mind was wholly unimpaired, and his 
thoughts, fed by the elevated tasks and oc- 
cupations which had made his long life so 
serviceable and benignant, were a better sus- 
tenance than his slender diet and his un- 
availing drugs. At the verge of its close, his 
animating, existing being, his life, seemed to 
be of a sort for which there could be no ar- 
rest or break, so continuous and steadfast 
was its flow on towards a deepening channel. 
His interest for his last days was largely en- 
gaged by his address for the occasion. The 
only intimation which he gave as to his 
thought on what might be the result, near, 
or not long to be delayed, of his illness, was 
in a word which he dropped to me, that this 
address was to be his last labor of the pen. 
On Saturday, by his gently earnest request, 
I read it over to him in his chamber. With 
all the acuteness and vivacity of mind of his 



A Christian Educator 163 

best years he made me pause upon words 
and statements, to insure simplicity and ex- 
actness as to phrase and fact. And then, 
with most courteous delicacy, he solicited of 
me as a favor, what more than willingly I am 
now to do, adding also the suggestion that 
I should preface the reading by telling you 
how it fell to me. I would answer but 
vaguely his full question as to what I thought 
might be immediately before him. Trust 
and hope are always full and fair for such as 
he. More difficult was it to meet the in- 
quiry of his faithful partner : ' I have lived 
with him fifty years. He is a pure man. 
Am I going to lose my dear husband ? ' Care- 
ful preparations had been made for his pas- 
sage to Boston yesterday, but spirit and 
body then chose to part, and took their ways 
to different homes." 

This chaste and beautiful tribute was re- 
ceived with profound attention, and the 
earnest impressiveness of the speaker pro- 
duced deep emotion in the vast assemblage. 



CHAPTER X 

RETROSPECT 

Thus passed from human sight (on July 6, 
1880) a leader of men in the nineteenth cen- 
tury. How can we best interpret the facts 
brought to mind by this imperfect sketch of 
his life? Of one thing we may be certain, 
namely, that he was debtor to his parents 
for a nature of uncommon resources, for a 
brain of fine qualities, a soul of noble im- 
pulses, and a body of manly proportions. 
He was born for strenuous action, and would 
have achieved distinction in any form of 
public service which he had chosen. There 
is, indeed, no evidence that he was a born 
poet, or that he could have excelled in writing 
verses; but almost anything else he seemed 
able to do. One cannot be too thankful for 
an intelligent and vigorous ancestry. 

But heredity does not really account for 

164 



A Christian Educator 165 

individuality. Doctor Sears was in many 
respects superior to any of his family. He 
was in fact a new and self -trained man. The 
steps of his progress from the age of fifteen 
to the end were self -chosen and resolute ; the 
goal which he set before his eyes from the 
first was distant and shining. He sought to 
become a true servant of God by serving 
truly the highest interests of man; and for 
long years, at his own charges, he persisted 
in qualifying himself for this high calling. In 
those years the fibre of his being was tested 
and made firm, the mettle of his spirit was 
proved and seen to be pure and ardent. 
Reason, memory, and conscience were sub- 
jected to severe discipline, and by means of 
humane studies his knowledge of what is in 
man was steadily augmented. He was in 
the end well read in the lore of the soul. 
What a lesson does his career offer to an 
American youth who is asking : What am I to 
do in life? How can a farmer boy without 
help reach a sphere of large influence among 
men? 



1 66 Barnas Sears 

Yet it is not strictly accurate to say that 
Barnas Sears was altogether self-trained. 
For ''there's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
rough hew them as we will" ; and there was 
at least one impulse to sublime endeavor in 
the soul of young Sears which it would be 
wrong to forget. He early became a King's 
son, with a loyal and loving heart, and the 
presence of that invisible King in his soul 
was a source of light and holy impulse never 
to be overlooked. His religious convictions 
were deep and steadfast, the action of his 
conscience was controlling, and his love to 
God was unfailing and crescent to the last. 
His sermons to the students at Brown, as 
well as his Chapel talks to them, on occasions, 
were referred to by Professor Lincoln at the 
funeral as often both tender and impressive. 
There was in him "a well of water springing 
up into life eternal," which contributed even 
more than his simply human purpose to his 
education and success as an educator. 

This had something also to do with his 
manliness and courtesy. For he was singu- 



A Christian Educator 167 

larly attractive in his intercourse with per- 
sons younger than himself. His manner was 
that of undisguised friendship, not that 
of dignified though graceful condescension. 
Young men soon felt at home in his study. 
They were somehow made to understand 
that he was a brother in spirit, considerate 
of their feelings, their hopes, and their 
anxieties. He wielded without apparent ef- 
fort the sceptre of good breeding and fellow- 
feeling combined. They looked upon his 
benignant face with delight; they noticed 
the sparkle of his eye with answering pleas- 
ure. He was a Christian gentleman, which 
presupposes both humanity and piety. He 
was not saintly, but good and true and open- 
hearted. So they trusted him fully. 

That he was a distinguished scholar, in a 
broad and true sense of the words, is un- 
questionable; not a specialist in any one 
language or natural science, but a man of 
uncommon knowledge in many departments 
of study; a natural linguist, historian, and 
logician; a man of quick and penetrating 



1 68 Barnas Sears 

insight, of easy versatility, of untiring energy 
in quest of truth, and hospitable to new dis- 
coveries without being easily disturbed in 
older principles. He was so well informed 
on almost all the subjects of human thought, 
that it was ever a pleasure to converse with 
him on any question before the public. 

That he was an able teacher will also be 
conceded by those who sat at his feet in the 
class-room; not a martinet or drill -master ; 
not a man who loved to have his ipsissima 
verba repeated, as all his pupils were aware; 
but one who opened broad fields of inquiry, 
stimulated thought, and encouraged those 
before him to employ their own judgment 
and conscience in the interpretation of his- 
tory and of life. His method perhaps was 
not suited to every pupil, but it was very 
inspiring and profitable to many, certainly 
to those who were already graduates from col- 
lege and engaged in studies for the ministry. 

Doctor Sears was also a superb adminis- 
trator. This appeared in his connection 
with Newton, with the Massachusetts Board 



A Christian Educator 169 

of Education, with Brown University, and 
with the Peabody Trust. In the last im- 
portant post his administrative capacity was 
signally displayed. No one familiar with 
the circumstances can entertain any doubt 
on this point. The fruits of his work were 
most beneficent, and one half the land has 
reason to remember him as a singularly wise 
and courageous advocate of public schools 
where they were at first looked upon with 
suspicion. His influence was a blessing of 
inestimable value to the people of the South. 
*' Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall 
be called the children of God." 

The springs and affluents of this beneficent 
life must be sought in many quarters: first 
of all, in the grace and providence of God ; 
but then, in the ancestral heritage of capac- 
ity from the Sears and Granger blood united ; 
in the pure airs and clear waters of Berkshire ; 
in the wholesome food and outdoor toil of 
farm life; in the district schools of former 
times, whether as pupil or teacher; in the 
drill of worthy masters fitting boys for 



I70 Barnas Sears 

college ; in the professors and books of a New 
England college; in the special and more 
thorough discussions of theological teachers ; 
in the lessons of pastoral experience and 
classical study; in the schools of Germany 
and France, and the literatures of Greece 
and Rome, of Palestine and Arabia, of 
Prussia and Paris ; in the society of savants 
and rulers ; in books of history and logic and 
science consulted in preparing for his work 
as teacher of theology, or Secretary of the 
Massachusetts Board of Education, or Presi- 
dent of Brown University, or General Agent 
of the Peabody Fund ; and indeed in all the 
changes of nature and of society passing be- 
fore his eyes in the lapse of years. His 
spirit was open to all kinds of ennobling 
influence. It was capacious and thirsty 
enough to welcome affluents of knowledge 
and holy impulse from current events in 
human progress, as well as from the beautiful 
aspects of nature. 

But the issues of his life were even richer 
than its affluents, because they took addi- 



A Christian Educator 171 

tional force and beauty from his noble pur- 
pose. Hence these issues found their way 
to the play fellows of his childhood, to the 
schoolmates of his youth, to his comrades in 
the academy, to his associates in the college 
and the seminary, to his flock in Hartford 
and his pupils in Hamilton, to his fellow- 
students in Germany and his friends in 
Hamburg and Paris, to his pupils in Newton 
and to the whole body of school teachers in 
Massachusetts, to the undergraduates of 
Brown University and the public men of all 
the South. The number of men whose 
careers he did much to ennoble is past com- 
putation, and the spreading streams of his 
influence will flow on until time shall be no 
longer. In him was fulfilled the Psalmist's 
language : 

"And he shall be like a tree planted by rivers of 
water, 
That bringeth forth its fruit in its season, 
Whose leaf also doth not wither, 
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 

Doctor Sears will be remembered as an 



172 Barnas Sears 

educator. His last address was on the sub- 
ject of education, and the last words of that 
address, though not read at Saratoga, were 
full of wisdom. 

''Fifty years ago, — let me say in conclu- 
sion, — we thought we had already reached 
the goal of human knowledge. We now 
look back on what we knew then, some- 
what as we then looked upon what the 
ancients knew. Let us learn to think mod- 
estly of our attainments, and wonderingly 
at the unsolved mysteries of our own being, 
of nature, and of Providence. Neither Hux- 
ley nor Spencer can teach us all things. The 
time may come when they and we, and all 
the men of our day, will be regarded as mere 
smatterers in knowledge. What we know 
not, and cannot know in this age, may be 
revealed to those who come after us. 

"Humility in the solemn presence of 
a mysterious universe, and reverence 
FOR THE Power that framed it, best be- 
come THOSE who are BUT THE CREATURES 
OF A DAY." 



APPENDIX 

Mrs. Sears was the daughter of Deacon EHjah and 
EUzabeth (Watson) Corey, of BrookHne, Mass. She 
was bom November 21, 1809, being therefore seven 
years and two days younger than her husband, and was 
named for her mother EHzabeth. She died in Staunton, 
Virginia, March 2-1,, 1883, at the age of seventy-three 
years, three months, and two days. Her father united 
with the First Baptist Church in Newton (" Father Graf- 
ton's") in 181 1, was dismissed by letter to unite with 
others in forming the First Baptist Church of Cam- 
bridge in 181 7, and became still later a constituent 
member of the Brookline Baptist Church. "Deacon 
Corey was one of the most liberal and influential 
Baptists of his time. His home was open to ministers 
and students. Upon a given Sabbath a young student 
rode home with him from the Cambridge church, and 
that day Bamas Sears and Elizabeth Corey met for the 
first time. Two years ago last July, Doctor Sears died 
at Saratoga. As the family were going to Brookline 
for his burial, Mrs. Sears said to her children, during a 
detention at Albany, that it was just fifty years (July 
7, 1830-July 7, 1880) since she passed through that 
city on her way to Hamilton as a bride." Mrs. Sears 
was the sister of Mrs. Pratt, whose husband, John 
Pratt, D.D., was president of Granville College (now 
Denison University), Ohio, and she was half-sister to 
Mrs. Comstock, whose husband died so prematurely in 
Arracan, Burma. Mrs. Sears 's grandfather, Captain Tim- 
othy Corey, was a soldier of the Revolution, beginning 

173 



174 Barnas Sears 

his service at the battle of Lexington, April 19,1775. It 
has been truly said of her that "her quiet power enabled 
her to supplement the needs of her husband's intense 
intellectual activities by the closest and most careful 
attention to everything pertaining to the home life. . . . 
A bright young student said of her once : ' She has the 
most authoritative simplicity of any person I ever 
knew.' It was this that made her the noble wife, 
woman, mother that she was." Doctor Sears was 
always sure of her affection and wisdom, and his last 
will is evidence of the mutual confidence which marked 
their intercourse through half a century. " I do be- 
queath and devise to my wife, Elizabeth G. Sears, all 
of my property of every description, both real and 
personal, whether being in the State of Virginia or 
Massachusetts or West Virginia, or which I may here- 
after acquire, to be her own absolute property, and to 
be disposed of in any way she may desire. This I do 
because she gave me the share she inherited in her 
father's estate, and because I have perfect confidence 
that she will do what is reasonable and just for our 
children." 

From the following paragraph in the Vindicator, one 
may learn the disposition which Mrs. Sears made of the 
property bequeathed to her: "The will of Mrs. 
Elizabeth G. Sears, deceased, relict of the late Doctor 
Barnas Sears, was also admitted to probate in this 
court. The testator bequeaths two tracts of coal land, 
400 acres and 260 acres respectively in Fayette Co., 
West Va., to her children, Wm. B., Edward H., and 
Robert Sears, and Mrs. Lizzie S. Fultz; the property 
at Brookline, Mass., including the old Corey home- 
stead, to her sons, Wm. B., Edward H., and Robert D. 
Sears; the interest on $7,000 for life to her son E. D. 
Sears; all her property in the city of Staunton, in- 
cluding her residence on Sears 's hill with its furniture, 



A Christian Educator 17 5 

books, pictures, etc., and also the houses and lots in 
West End, to her daughter, Mrs. Lizzie S. Fultz, and 
the forty acres of land lying west of and near Staunton, 
known as "The Garden," to her son-in-law, Dr. J. H. 
Fultz. The testator appointed Capt. Alex. H. Fultz 
as her executor. Capt. Fultz has qualified, giving 
bond in the sum of $8,000." 

Dr. and Mrs. Sears had five children, four sons and 
one daughter, as follows: 

I. WilHam Bamas, bom Hamilton, Madison Co., 
N. Y., July II, 1832. 

II. Lizzie Corey, bom Newton Center, Mass., Octo- 
ber 14, 1838; died January 25, 1900, Chicago, 111. 

III. Edward Henry, born Newton Center, Mass., 
October 4, 1840; died August 22, 1886, Dorchester, 
Mass. 

IV. Robert Davis, bom Newton Center, Mass. , June 

28, 1842. 

V. Edmund Dwight, bom Newton Center, Mass., 
June 28, 1852; died November 10, 1883, Staunton, Va. 

William Barnas Sears was educated in private schools 
or by private teachers in Newton Center. He was 
for a time an assistant teacher of German, Latin, 
and Greek in the Pierce Academy. June 6, 1861, he 
was commissioned by Governor Sprague ist Lieutenant 
2d Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers, and October 
28th of the same year, Captain. He was in the Army 
of the Potomac under McClellan, Bumside, Hooker, 
Meade, and Grant, and took part in the battles of the 
Peninsula, Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness, 
leading his company in many desperate struggles with 
the enemy. June 17, 1864, his term of enlistment 
having expired, he was mustered out, and returned to 
private life and business pursuits. His career as a 
soldier was patriotic, and he left the army honored by 



176 Barnas Sears 

his superiors as well as by those under his command. 
In business and social life, and in the Grand Army of 
the Republic, he has always deserved the confidence 
of his associates, and has been called to fill several 
positions of honor and usefulness. His valuable assist- 
ance to the writer in verifying dates, contributing facts, 
and presenting photograph plates, is gratefully ac- 
knowledged. 

Lizzie Corey Sears, as the wife of J. H. Fultz, M.D., 
and as the private secretary of her father during many 
years of his agency for the Peabody Fund, gave ample 
proof of cultivated powers and high character. The 
friends of Doctor Sears are indebted to her for the record 
of many incidents in the life of her father, and for the 
publication of selections from his home correspondence 
while in Germany. She appreciated her father, as did 
the other children also, and the story of his life in these 
pages has been enriched by not a few paragraphs from 
her pen. Although she died in Chicago, her body was 
brought to Brookline and placed in the Corey family 
tomb, with those of her parents. 

Edward Henry Sears was in Brown University one 
year, September 1, 1860-June 5, 1861. At the last date 
he was made ist Lieutenant 2d Regiment Rhode 
Island Infantry; July 21, 1861 (first battle of Bull Run) , 
he was made Captain of Company D, and December 
2, 1 86 1, was commissioned ist Lieutenant of Battery 
G, Light Artillery. He was in action at Yorktown, Va., 
Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, second Bull Run, Antietam, 
and Fredericksburg, Va. On August 22, 1863, he was 
appointed Acting-assistant Paymaster U. S. Navy, and 
ordered to report to the gunboat Underwriter at New- 
beme. N. C. The crew of the Underwriter was killed 
or captured by the Confederates, and he was a prisoner 
of war at Kingston, N. C, Danville, Va., Libby, Rich- 
mond, the stockade at Macon, Ga., and Roper Buildings 



MRS. ELIZABETH COREY SEARS 




MRS. LIZZIE SEARS FULTZ 



CAPT. EDWARD H. SEARS 



A Christian Educator 177 

in Charleston, S. C, nine months, and thpn released by 
exchange, November 15, 1864. He w. rdered to re- 
port to the U. S. S. Wachusett, of the Chinese Naval 
Squadron, December 15, 1864, in which he served until 
June 22 , 1868. He was appointed postmaster of Staun- 
ton, Va., December 21, 1869, and held the office six 
years. His subsequent career in business life was such 
as to command the respect and gain the good will of 
those who knew him. "His great enjoyments" are 
said to have been "in sketching, drawing, music, read- 
ing, hunting, and yachting. He possessed a keen sense 
of the ludicrous, and was full of wit and humor." 

A third son, Robert Davis, bore the title Lieutenant, 
but was prevented by sickness from engaging in actual 
service. 



It 



INDEX 



Academies, lo, ii 

Agassiz, Prof. J. L. R., Associate in Teachers' Insti- 
tutes, 78 

Aiken, Hon, William, iii 

American Baptist Missionary Union, Dr. Sears as 
President of, 143 

"American Encyclopedia," articles in, 56 

Ancestry of Dr. Sears, i 

Augustine, article on, in Christian Review, 58; quoted, 

69 
Azores, Passage to, 27 

Beecher, Miss Caroline, School of, 20 

Bekker, Prof. Immanuel, 50 

Berkshire County, 2, 4, 5 

Berlin, 25, 29, 50 

Bibliotheca Sacra, articles in, 56, 58 

Bock, Prof. Karl Ernst, 50 

Bopp, Prof. Franz, 50 

Boutwell, Hon. Geo. S., estimate of, of Dr. Sears, 76; 

as Secretary of Board of Education, 77-80 
Bradford, Hon. E. A., iii 
Brookline, 19, 26 
Brown University, preparation of Dr. Sears for, 10; 

entrance and graduation of Dr. Sears at, 11, 12; 

absence of sectarian teaching at, 13; presidency 

of Dr. Sears of, 91-109 
Burgess "On Baptism," article in Christian Review, 

57 
Burleson, Rev. Dr., 129, 130 
Burrage, Rev. H. S., D.D., letter of, concerning Dr. 

Sears at Brown, 99-101 

Chase, Prof. Irah, D.D., 18 
Chatham, Mass., 3 

179 



i8o Index 



"China, its Geography and Religion," article on, in 

Christian Review, 57 
Christian Review, Dr. Sears as editor of, 56; articles in. 

57.58 
"Ciceronian, The," 58 

Cliflford, Hon. John H., 11 1, 132 

Colchester, England, i 

Colgate University. See Hamilton Literary and Theo- 
logical Institution 

College, preparation for, 9-10 

Colleges of that day, 12-14 

Common country schools at that time, 5-8 

Comstock, Rev. G. S. and wife, 34 

Conversion of Dr. Sears, 9 

Cooley, Rev. Timothy M., 10 

Corey, Deacon Elijah, 19 

Corey, Mrs, Elijah, 34 

Corey, Miss Elizabeth G., 20, 26 

Curry, Hon, J, L, M., opinion of, on Dr. Sears's fitness 
for agency of Peabody Fund, 123-125 

De Wette, Prof. W. M. L., 47 
Dies Ires, sung at Halle, 37 

Eaton, Pres. George W., D.D., address by, 23 

Education in country schools of that time, 5-8 

Edwards, Prof. B. B., D.D., 58 

Elbe, the, 27, 28, 31 

Ellis, Rev. Geo. E., D.D., remarks of, at funeral of Dr. 

Sears, 160-163 
Emerson, George B., 78 
Evarts, Hon. Wm. M., iii, 132 
Executive Committee of American Baptist Missionary 

Union, member of, 57, 142 

Felton, Pres. C. C, 58, 78 

Fish, Hon. Hamilton, no, 112, 132 

France, 26 

General Agent of the Peabody Education Fund, iio- 

150 
" German Grammar, Noehden's," author of, 58 

Germany, visited, 24, 53 

Gesenius, Prof. F. H,, 35, 47 



Index i8i 



Graham, Hon. Wm. A., in 

Grant, Gen. U. S., no, 132 

Granville, 10 

Grimm, Jakob, 50 „ , 

Guild, Reuben A., LL.D,, estimate by. of Dr. Sears s 

work at Brown, 107 
Guizot, F. P. G., 51 
Guyot, Prof. A. H., 78 

Halle, 25, 29, 30, 35-38 . . o 

Halle University Church, 37-41; music m, 38-40 

Halle University, lecture-room work in, 44-47 

Hamburg, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 48 , 

Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, ^ pro- 
fessor of ancient languages in, 23, 54; professor of 
Biblical Theology in, 24, 53, 54 

Hamilton, pastorate at, 24, 32 

Hanover, 30 ^ . 

Harkness, Prof. A., LL.D., Ph.D., letter of, concerning 
Dr. Sears at Brown, 93-95 

Hartford, pastorate at, 20, 22 

Hartwell, Jesse, 10 

Harwich, 3 

Havre, 48 

Hayes, President R. B., 132 

Helmstadt, 30 

Hengstenberg, Prof. E. W., 47» S^. 68 

Hermann, Prof. J. G. J., 48, 49 „ . -o-i, 

"Historical Studies," article by Dr. Sears on, m Bib- 
liotheca Sacra, 58 

Jackson, Hon. Henry R., 133 

Keene, Mr., of South Carolina, 133 

Leipsic, 25, 29, 48, 49» 5° 

Lincoln, Prof. Heman, 122, 159 

Lincoln, Prof. John L., LL.D., remarks by, at funeral 
of Dr. Sears, 95-99, 166 

"Luther, Martin, The Life of," by Dr. Sears, 58; 'Se- 
lect Treatises of," edited by Dr. Sears, 58 ; '' The 
Religious Experience of," in the cloister of Er- 
furt, article on, in Bibliotheca Sacra, 58 



1846 



1" Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution" became,^ in 
46, "Madison University," and, in 1890, "Colgate University. 



i82 Index 



Macalester, Charles, iii 

Mcllvaine, Right Rev. Charles P., no, 112, 132 
Madison University. See Hamilton Literary and Theo- 
logical Institution 
Mann, Horace, 4, 76, 81, 82, 90 
Marks, Professor, 36 
Mason, Lowell, 78 
Muller, Prof. J., 50 
Muretus, M. A., 50 

Neander's "Church History," article on, in Christian 
Review, 57 

Neander, Prof. J. A. W., 51 

New Boston district, 3 

Newton Theological Institution, student in, 17-19; 
Professor of Christian Theology in, 54; President 
of, 56 

"Noehden's German Grammar," translated and re- 
vised, 58 

Normal Schools, established in Massachusetts, 78; 
supported by State, 88 

North Sea, crossed by Dr. Sears in storm, 27 

Olshausen, Prof. Hermann, 47 

Oncken, Rev. J. G., 26; baptized and ordained, 29, 31, 

Origen, 69 

"Papacy, The, and the Empire," article on, in Biblio- 

theca Sacra, 58 
Paris, visited by Dr. Sears, 25, 51, 52 
Peabody Education Fund, General Agent of, 1 10-150 
Peabody, George, letter of, creating the Peabody 

Education Fund, 110-112, 122, 129, 132 
"Pelagian Controversy," by Wigger, article on, in 

Christian Review, 57 
Pertz, G. H., 51 
Pidge, Rev. J. B. G., D.D., letter of, concerning Dr. 

Sears at Brown, 102, 104 
Plumb, Rev. A. H., D.D., estimate of Dr. Sears as 

Professor, 104, 105 ; estimate of Dr. Sears in a 

revival, 105 
Preparatory schools, lo-ii 



Index 183 



Public Schools, Religious Teaching in, report on, 83; 
Obstacles to, report on, 85, 86; control of, by- 
towns, 87 

Public school teachers, better qualifications for, 87 

Ranke, Prof. Leopold, 50 

" Redepenning's Life of Origen," article on, in Christian 

Review, 58 
"Reformers before the Reformation," article on, in 

Bibliotheca Sacra, 58 
" Religious Experience, The, of Luther in the Cloister of 

Erfurt," article in Bibliotheca Sacra, 58 
" Religious Teaching in Public Schools," report on, d>^ 
Riggs, Geo. W., Esq., 11 1 
Ripley, Prof. Henry J., D.D., 18 
Ritter, Prof. Karl, 50 
Rives, Hon. Wm. C, iii 
Rosenmiiller, Prof. E. F. K., 48 
Rostan, J. C, 52 
Ruhnken, Prof. David, 50 
Russell, George Peabody, 11 1 
Russell, Professor, in teachers' institutes, 78 

Sandisfield, 2, 3, 4 

Sears, Barnas, D.D., LL.D., ancestry of, 1-4, 164; early 
education of, 4 ; conversion of, 9 ; first teaching by, 
10; preaching of, while at college, 16; election of, 
to professorship at Hamilton Literary and Theo- 
logical Institute, 23, 53, 54; professorship of, at 
Newton Theological Institute, 54; articles by, in 
"American Encyclopedia," 56; election of, as 
president of Newton Theological Institute, 56; 
magazine articles by, 56, 57, 58; membership 
of Executive Committee of American Baptist 
Missionary Union, 57, 142; books by, 58 ; ability 
of, as teacher, 59-63, 65-67, 139-141, 169; ex- 
tensive reading of, 61, 155; theology of, 64; epi- 
tome of " Introduction to Course in Theology" by, 
68-75 ; secretaryship of Massachusetts Board of 
Education, 76-90 ; report of, for 1855, ^^ "Re- 
ligious Teaching in the Public Schools," 83 ; report 
of, for 1856, on "Obstacles to Public School Edu- 
cation," 85-87 ; presidency of Brown Univer- 
sity, 91-109; letter of, to Robert C. Winthrop, 



i84 Index 



Sears, Bamas, D.D., LL.D. — Continued. 

concerning Peabody Education Fund, 113-119; ap- 
pointment of, as General Agent of Peabody Fund, 
120; results of work of, in the South, — common- 
school system adopted, good school laws enacted, 
normal schools founded, teachers' institutes estab- 
lished, 120-150; death of, 164; self-training of, 
165; religious convictions of , 166; personality of , 
166; scholarship of, 167; administrative ability 
of, 168, 169 

Sears, Richard, the emigrant ancestor, i 

Sears, Paul, the father, 2 

Sears, Paul, the grandfather, 3, 4 

Sears, Mrs. EHzabeth G. C. See Miss E. G. Corey 

Separatist, 4 

Standing order, 3 

Staunton, Va., 122, 151, 153-155 

Stearns, Rev, Eben S., D.D., 138, 148 

Stearns, Prof. O. S., D.D., iv., 23, 55, 57, 65-67 

Stuart, Prof. Moses, D.D., 18 

Teachers' institutes, 78, 80, 81, 82, 88 

Texas, State of, canvassed in aid of public schools, 129 

"The Ciceronian," author of, 58 

"The Life of Martin Luther," author of, 58 

Tholuck, Prof. F. A. G., 35, 36; sermon of, 41-43 

Trustees of the Peabody Fund, 99 

Wayland, Pres. Francis, D.D., LL.D., 95, 96, 154 

Weser, the, 27 

Wetmore, Samuel, iii 

Whipple, Right Rev. H. B., 132, 133, 134 

Wigger, " Pelagian Controversy, article on," in Christian 
Review, 57 

Winer, Prof. George B., 48, 49 

Winthrop, Hon. R. C, Trustee and Chairman of Pea- 
body Education Fund, 110-113; letter to, by Dr. 
Sears, 113-119; address by, at funeral of Dr. 
Sears, 130-134; opinion of, of results of Dr. Sears's 
work in the South, 145 

Wittenbach, 50 

Zumpt, Prof. K. G., 50 



DEC 18 »»U2 



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